Naruto of the Talismans
by The three quarter demon
Summary: on the day of naruto's birth, orochimaru found twelve items and hopes to use them to achieve immortality. three years later he successfully implants them into a young child. prologue explains a lot
1. Chapter 1

This challenge was called by notgonnasay09.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Prologue xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Minato carried his wife to a safe house with a small four man squad escorting them and Kushina's midwives. The forest around them seemed peaceful, quiet, and gentle. If everything went well, it would stay that way.

The soon to be father wasn't taking the chance of the Kyuubi escaping from his wife. He had enough seals and soldier pills to keep the seal strong enough to hold the Kyuubi. The only fear he had was that his kunoichi wife wouldn't survive the birth. The lead medics said that because of her 'condition', as they referred to her being a Jinchuuriki as, and the fact that she was now a month overdue she might not survive.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking" Kushina said just before another contraction hit her.

The pain caused her to squeeze Minato's shoulder tightly. Minato didn't show any signs of being in pain from the grip, but he was.

"We're almost there" he assured her "besides, you're a bad liar" with a gentle smile before he kissed her.

Ten minutes later, Minato gently laid his wife on the bed in the safe house as her midwives got everything ready for the delivery. His shoulder was killing him from the soon to be mother's grip. _'And people thought she's strong when she's angry'_ he thought as he rubbed his shoulder _'I hope they never find out how strong she is when she's contracting.'_

He took off his cloak, rolled it up and placed it behind his wife's head to act as a better pillow than what was there. His fingers couldn't help but to play with a few strands of her fire red hair. The same hair that allowed him to track and save her from her captors before they could do anything to the kunoichi when they were young.

A smile grew across his face as he recalled how much she blushed when he told her he like her hair and that was what first got his attention when they first met in the academy. After that mission was done was when they started dating the 'Red-Hot Blooded Habanero' that was known for her temper. It was also after that when that particular nickname became politically incorrect; even though she still had her moments.

"Hokage-sama" one ANBU said as he quietly opened the door "the perimeter is secure."

"Thank you;" Minato told the masked man "are all the extra seals ready; just in case?"

"Hai" a second said behind the first "I just placed the last one."

The blonde Hokage dismissed them and ordered them to stand outside. After the door closed, he pulled out his copy of his sensei's first book and started reading it to his wife and soon to be mother. It was the same book that gave them their unborn son's name; Naruto.

-?-

Orochimaru walked through the massive stone halls looking for what he came for. A statue that holds twelve items with unique abilities. Abilities that can help him accomplish his dream of learning every known jutsu.

He let out a small laugh as he remembered how quickly he translated the ancient scrolls that led him to his current location. It only took him three weeks for him to decipher the mysterious language that spoke of the items he was now after. The only problem was the language also spoke of a powerful dragon that owns the items and has only been defeated once.

"Uncle…Orochimaru;" Anko asked with a shaky voice "aren't… aren't you afraid of the creature that… that owns those talisman things?"

Orochimaru looked at his niece with a smug smile. While she held fear for the creature, he knew something she didn't. He knew the jutsu that was used to defeat the dragon.

"Not at all; Anko-chan" he laughed "the scroll mentioned a shinobi that defeated the dragon. Thus trapping it as a statue, forever."

His words didn't seem to reassure his niece; she was still shaky as they drew towards a large door with a symbol of a dragon on it. Orochimaru put his hand on the door and examined it closely before he pulled out a scroll and made sure he was at the right place. Being sure he was, he placed two explosive tags on the large old hinges and stepped back behind a corner with Anko next to him and at a safer distance.

When the tags exploded, rubble and dust flew down the hall they once stood in. Anko covered her eyes to keep the dust from getting in them, while her uncle merely put his hand next to his face and didn't really care if dust got into his snake like eyes or not. They waited for a few seconds to see if any traps would go off while the dust settled; nothing seemed to happen when the dust finally settled.

Orochimaru walked through what was left of the doorframe and into a large chamber. The chamber was massive, but empty; with only a few pieces of gold left from pillagers or treasure hunters. Anko couldn't help but to wonder if what her uncle came for was even still there as she walked behind him.

"There's nothing here uncle" she said with a comforting tone thinking he was going to be furious "I'm sorry."

"Not everything is as it seems" he snapped to her "I thought I taught you that."

He walked back to the entrance to the chamber and counted the pillars to his left as he walked. Each pillar had a different symbol engraved at eye level. The Snake-sannin stopped at the pillar that had the engraving of a dragon on it and smiled. _'It's not much farther now'_ he chuckled to himself as he walked between the pillar and the next one.

Anko picked up a piece of the treasure that got left behind and rubbed the dust off of it. When she did she dropped the piece in shock; it was marked with the face of a dragon. Her heart raced as she thought of what the scroll said; 'those that disturb the dragon's treasure will die'. It took all her strength to remind herself that her uncle assured her that the dragon was now harmless.

Her uncle didn't let her read much of the scrolls that led them there, but what she did read struck fear in her. One part spoke of the dragon having powers that are said to be of another world. Any injury that it took healed instantly, it could shoot beams of heat from its eyes, crush even the strongest of rocks, and much more. She constantly had to tell herself 'the dragon was slain, otherwise there would be treasure here' to keep herself calm.

Orochimaru smiled again when he saw a faint painting of a dragon on the wall. The moon light fell onto the painting and brought out the full features of the dragon. The dragon had green scales and a large, broad chest with matching shoulders, massive and muscular arms, shorter legs that were just as muscular as the arms, and a ten foot long tail. It was clearly a painting of the dragon that the scroll spoke of.

"One" Orochimaru counted as he moved his hand over the tiles next to the head of the painted dragon "two, three, and four" as he pushed the fourth tile in and the painting of the dragon began to slide down into the floor.

As the secret door slid out of sight, a new chamber was revealed. It wasn't as large as the one he had just walked out of, but it was still rather impressive. There were twelve pillars placed evenly apart from each other and a shield looking statue in the center. The statue looked like a snaked coiled up, but instead of a snake head it had a dragon head.

"_**Who dares enter my chamber?"**_ could be heard as the statue's eyes glowed red.

"I am…" Orochimaru started to say.

"_**A sorry excuse for a reptile;"**_ it said _**"now what do you want? I already know my treasure is gone, I have listened to countless treasure hunters steal it over the years."**_

The statue seemed to be very testy; as well as covered in dust from who knows how many years. The eyes continued to glow red as Orochimaru stepped closer to the statue. It was as if it was peering into Orochimaru and trying to kill him from the inside out.

"I read about something called talismans" Orochimaru said in a calm tone as he stepped towards a pillar "I wish to find them."

"_**Stop right there"**_ the statue snapped as Orochimaru drew nearer to a pillar_** "I won't allow them to be taken by someone like you. They are mine, and mine alone; if you so much as touch one of them, I will burn you to a crisp."**_

Orochimaru knew the statue was bluffing, and, by the way the statue snapped at him, he was already close to them. He took a few minutes to observe the room; it quickly clicked with him that the talismans never left the dragon's sight. Each of the pillars had an octagon looking piece imbedded in them at eye level; each one with a different symbol.

"How do you plan on doing that" he laughed as he pulled out the closest talisman to him "when you are but a statue?"

"_**Mortals shouldn't mess with powers beyond their comprehension"**_ the statue warned.

"And stone figures shouldn't speak when they know they can easily be destroyed" he laughed as he pulled out a stack of paper bombs.

Orochimaru walked closer to the statue and started to place the explosives on the statue. As he did so, he noticed twelve octagon shaped pieces that were missing from the statue. A laugh escaped his mouth as he connected the dots. While the one that turned the dragon into a statue might've succeeded, it cost him his life before he could hide the talismans from the world.

"I wonder why none of your servants bothered to free you from your prison" he laughed as he placed the last one.

"_**They were traitors and cowards"**_ the former dragon snapped _**"and those truly loyal to me couldn't touch my magnificent power without destroying themselves.'**_

"Uncle Orochimaru" Anko said as she entered the chamber "can… can we please leave. This place scares me" as she held herself.

"Of course my dear" as he walked over to another pillar and pulled the talisman out of it "please help me retrieve what we came for and we can leave soon."

Anko didn't hesitate; the stone walls around her gave her the creeps. She focused chakra into the soles of her shoes, walked up one pillar, and retrieved the talisman from it. When she had it in her hand, she noticed the animal the engraving made; a snake. However, she didn't waste time thinking about it; she just wanted to get out of the creepy place.

Once they had all twelve; Orochimaru put them in his pouch and walked out of the chamber with his niece right behind him. His trade mark laughter could be heard by the statue as they got out of sight. Once they were, all the statue heard was the snake-sannin snapping his fingers before the paper bombs exploded and destroyed him.

- safe house -

Kushina screamed in pain as another contraction hit her. Even the ANBU outside the door were shaken by her scream of pain. Minato's hand was on the verge of breaking because of his wife's powerful grip.

"Just a little more Kushina" one of her midwives said "I can see his head."

Minato wasn't sure his hand could take much more before it broke, but he was quickly proven wrong as his wife screamed again because of another contraction. He gritted his teeth to keep from letting his wife know she was hurting him. _'I'm going to need a medic after this'_ he thought.

Kushina knew that her pain wasn't just because of her son being born; it was also the seal that kept the Kyuubi in her becoming weak. She couldn't help but to think that if the extra seals hadn't been placed, the Kyuubi would've escaped by now. Her husband clearly showed he was in pain, but he refused to let any noise out that would let others know about it.

"Just one more time" the second midwife said as she readied the towel to catch Kushina's son.

Kushina pushed one more time and finally felt the pain lighten. She could hear her new son crying as her midwives cleaned the infant. Tears of joy came to her eyes as she looked at her husband; who was just as happy.

Before either of them could ask to see their new son, both of Kushina's midwives fell to the floor dead. A masked man now had their son in his hands. One Sharingan eye visible and glaring at the Hokage.

"Give me the Kyuubi" he ordered "or your son will die at the ripe old age of one minute" as he held a kunai to Naruto's neck.

Before Kushina could even cry, everything went dark. When she finally could see again, she saw a large chamber that had several massive bars. On the other side she saw glowing red eyes and a fox grin.

"**I was wondering when we'd meet"** the figure said **"but I wish it could be under better circumstances."**

"You're the Kyuubi no Kitsune" Kushina said in shock "what do you want?"

"**To save your Kit"** with a gentle and sincere tone **"this man won't give him back unless you give me to him. With the seal weakened right now, you can release me without dying as a result of my escape."**

Kushina could hear the sound of a fight echo in the large chamber. Fear filled her heart as she thought the masked man had killed her son. Tears began to fall from her eyes.

"**Your Kit is still alive"** the Kyuubi assured her **"please, you must release me to save him."**

"How?" tears still running from her eyes.

"**Tear the seal off the bars,"** the fox instructed her **"then say 'Release', I'll do the rest. And don't worry, I won't attack the village; not that I'll have the power to"** Kushina had a confused look on her face as she stopped reaching for the seal **"I'll give you almost all of my chakra. I know what this man wants with me, and I won't allow it."**

"Please" Kushina cried "just save my Naruto."

"**Of course; Uzumaki-sama"** in a gentle tone **"I give you my word; and I always honor my word."**

"Release" she cried out as she pulled the seal off the bars.

"Give me Naruto back" Minato ordered the masked man.

"Do you really want your son to die, Lord Hokage?" he said back in response as he put the kunai back at Naruto's neck.

Before the blonde Hokage could drop his kunai, there was a sudden surge of chakra that he didn't recognize. The surge of chakra was followed up by a blinding light; both the masked man and Minato had to cover their eyes. By time they could see again, they heard a new voice.

"You coward" the feminine voice said "using an infant as a hostage. You have no honor."

Both Minato and the masked man looked at the source of the voice. A woman that looked a little like Kushina; only her hair was a brighter red, eyes were just as red as Kurenai's, had whiskers on her cheeks, and she was wearing a golden red kimono. The new person looked furious; the anger coming from her held true to the saying 'hell holds no fury like that of a woman scorned'. But that was nothing compared to the fury of an angry Kitsune.

"Release the Kit" she snarled "NOW!"

The masked man saw an opening on the blonde Hokage and took it. Before the Hokage could move, the masked man plunged his kunai deep into the center of the man's chest. Minato gasped for air as he felt the kunai slice into his chest. Before the masked man could pull his kunai out of him, he grabbed his new born son, charged a Rasengan and planted it right in the attacker's chest. This sent him spinning through the wall behind him.

Kyuubi ran over to the Hokage and helped hold him up; but the man's attention was on his wife, who was watching the whole thing. He walked over to her and put their new born son in her arms; the tears of relief flowed from their eyes as the young Naruto looked at them with his large blue eyes.

His round face was like Kushina's when she was in the academy. The full head of blonde hair was almost in the same fashion as the Hokage's. He looked just like his parents, except for his whiskers.

"Now that I have what I want" they heard from the direction of the attacker "you can keep your boy" they looked up to see the masked man holding a new kunai at Kyuubi's throat.

"You think you've won" Kyuubi said softly "you will never be able to release Juubi. I made sure of it" as she grabbed and broke the man's wrist then flipped him over her onto the ground "my presence in this form proves it. All my demonic chakra is gone; you have lost."

"This isn't over" the masked man said as he made one hand sign and seemed to spin out of existence from his mask.

"Hokage-sama" Kyuubi said as she ran over to him "we need to get you to a hospital. You'll die from blood loss soon" the Hokage shook his head in disagreement.

"No" as blood ran from his mouth "whatever that man had on his kunai is making sure I won't survive. I'm just happy my wife and son are safe."

"Minato-kun" Kushina said with concern.

"Don't worry," with a smile "I know I died protecting the village and my new family. I'll make sure the three of you get back to the village gates safely" as he picked up his wife and son in one arm and wrapped his other one around Kyuubi.

Before Kushina could protest, all her eyes could see was yellow. When she could see again, she saw the main gate to Konoha; with several surprised ANBU at it. She felt Kyuubi grab hold of her as Minato lost his grip and fell to the ground.

When the ANBU saw this they rushed over and immediately began trying to heal him. Kyuubi set her former container on the ground as close to her husband as the ANBU would allow. She knew the attempted healing jutsu was for nothing, the masked man had a powerful poison on his kunai that could kill anyone in a matter of minutes if the victim was lucky.

The young Naruto looked at Kyuubi and tried to grab at her hair. It seemed that the Kit inherited his father's attraction to red heads. Kyuubi kneeled down next to her former container and her son and rubbed the Kit's cheek. She couldn't help but to feel responsible for the new born being a bastard now.

"He's gone" one ANBU said with a sad tone.

Tears gushed down Kushina's face when she heard those words. The love of her life had died trying to protect her and their son. She pulled her new born son closer to her and continued to cry; so did Naruto. The ANBU looked at the source of the crying and became wide eyed.

"Get them to the hospital now" one ordered as he picked up the dead Hokage "make sure you have the baby checked out as soon as you get there."

Kyuubi didn't have any time to react before an ANBU grabbed Kushina and Naruto and Shunshined away. She looked at the fallen Hokage and the ANBU carrying him and began to feel tears running down her face. The feeling of guilt came over her; _'If I would just let everyone be all those years ago, none of this would've happened.'_

"Where's the hospital?" she asked one ANBU, who didn't respond "please, take me to the hospital; I need to be with Uzumaki-sama."

The ANBU nodded, grabbed Kyuubi around her waist and Shunshined to the hospital. When Kyuubi saw the hospital she pushed the ANBU away from her and ran to through the doors. A few of the people in the waiting room had to take a double glance at her, especially since she looked a little like Kushina.

"Where's Uzumaki, Kushina's room?" she asked as she nearly ran into the front desk.

After she got the room number, she ran down the hall and looked for it. Normally she would've followed her scent, but with all the cleaning supplies the hospital uses it was hard to find. The smell of bleach was beginning to give her a headache.

Each stride she took seemed to add to the guilt and fear she already had. It was because she was angry that she tried to attack Konoha when it was beginning to rise. That was the reason for her imprisonment in Mito Uzumaki; before Mito died though, she transferred her into Kushina. She felt horrible; it was because she couldn't control her anger that the new born Kit was going to be without at least one parent.

She finally found the room, slid the door open and saw her former vessel lying in the hospital bed. Tears began to form in her eyes as she looked at the new mother. Tears with mixed reasons for them; regret, sadness, relief, happiness, and even remorse.

She regretted attacking the village all those years ago. She was sad to see that it was because of her that because of her the young Naruto was now without a father. She was relieved to see that Kushina was still alive and happy that the Kit was safe now. But she mourned the loss of her former vessel's husband.

"I'm sorry Uzumaki-sama" she cried as she sat in a chair next to the bed and put her head on Kushina's lap "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault" she said as she rubbed Kyuubi's head "it was that masked man's."

"Madara will pay for this" she growled.

"You knew that guy?" with a worried look.

"He's the one reason I attacked Konoha when it was being built" tears still running down her face "he killed my little brother."

The door slid open again and a doctor stepped in with a slightly worried look on his face.

"I just got the results of your first test" with a sad tone "your chakra system is completely shutdown. It's weird, from what I saw it looked like the veins exploded in a few areas."

"How bad is it?" Kushina asked in a calm voice.

"Well…" he hesitated.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION NOW!" Kyuubi snapped.

"If she's lucky" with a shaky voice "she'll only retire from her career as a kunoichi."

Kyuubi nearly lost control of her tears when she heard that. Her first day of freedom was the second worst day of her life. Now her former vessel's child was most likely not going to have parents at all; because of her.

"I'll see if I can get Hiashi-sama in here to give me a second opinion about it" as he left the room.

When the doctor left and slid the door closed, Kyuubi broke into tears.

"It's probably because of all the soldier pills I took to keep the seal strong enough to keep you sealed away" as she comforted the former demon.

"Please don't lie" she said between sobs "I know that it's my chakra that did this. I gave you all of it and it overloaded your tenketsu. Now your son won't have any parents."

Kushina slapped Kyuubi and snapped her out of her tears. She pulled the former demon close to her in a comforting hug to help calm her down. She could feel the tears soak through her scrubs.

"Naruto-kun has you" she said softly "you're just as much his mother as I am."

"No I'm not" still crying.

"You were sealed within me while I was pregnant with him" she explained "you experienced the same things I did during that time. And you were willing to give your life to help save him from Madara; that's a maternal instinct. He even has your whiskers" with a soft chuckle.

Kyuubi fell asleep crying, and holding the hand of her former vessel. It pained her to accept raising Naruto if Kushina passed away because of the chakra overload. Even though she claimed she would never be able to look at the Kit as her own, she felt it was the only way to make some sort of amends for the loss of the child's parents.

Kushina was surprised that she hadn't passed out after being set in the hospital bed. She was expecting to be dead tired after the delivery; yet she felt wide awake. The only thing she could think of that could account for her energy was the demonic chakra Kyuubi had put into her before her release and what her body had absorbed before her tenketsu overloaded.

She rubbed Kyuubi's head as she reread a letter to Naruto to read when he's old enough. This way, not only will he not let the ego go to his head, but everyone would've accepted him as a person by time the truth is revealed. She had spent most of the night thinking of different ways to let her son know, but this was the best way in the end.

A smile grew across her lips as she thought about how her and her late husband managed to keep their marriage so quiet that only four people knew about it. Even when they dating, they kept an overly professional appearance when in public. The hardest time they had when they were married was when she was pregnant with Naruto; Minato had come up with a story about how the 'father' abandoned her when she told him she was pregnant and he was doing everything he could to help his friend.

Her heart did feel at ease knowing that he'd be taken care of after she died. While Kyuubi looks enough like her to be able to pass Naruto off as her own, she'd never do that. That was something she was thankful for; however painful it would be for the former Queen of Demons, she gave her word that she would take care of Naruto, he would know he's an orphan, but not who his parents are.

She knows that her former guest wouldn't keep certain things from him, like both his parents being killed, but she knew she wouldn't tell him the whole truth. Kyuubi had shown she was far too noble and honorable to keep the fact that he's an orphan from him. Kushina knew that Kyuubi feared what Naruto would think if he thought that she was responsible for his parents' death.

Her son wouldn't be looked at like the honorable son of the honorable Yondaime Hokage, but it was better than what could've been. Minato had convinced her that their son would've been the new vessel for Kyuubi if she had gotten out during her labor. However, while the idea had been quickly thrown aside when Kyuubi said that her demon chakra was gone; things didn't go as well as hoped.

-two days later-

No one said a word as the funeral began. Kyuubi watched the two coffins as they were lowered into the ground; Naruto sleeping soundly in her arms and wrapped warmly in a blanket. Other than Sandaime Hokage, she was the only one that knew who Naruto's true father was; that she was aware of.

Before Kushina died, much to Kyuubi's discomfort, she convinced those that visited her that Kyuubi was a long lost relative that found out she existed and came to Konoha to meet her. It was amazing how quickly the villagers believed the story. It took Kyuubi a while, but she soon understood why they believed the story when she looked in the mirror of the bathroom.

Kyuubi was now the 'single mother' of Naruto Uzumaki, son of Kushina Uzumaki. The Sandaime had told her about an account Minato set up in case something happened that would put Naruto on his own. While this didn't classify as 'on his own' Kyuubi had no money and the Sandaime knew it; that's why he told her about the account.

Rain began to fall midway through the funeral; Kyuubi did her best to cover the young Naruto. Eventually though, the rain seeped through the extra blanket and started to drip onto the one that was keeping the infant warm. To her surprise, the drips came to a halt. When she looked up she saw an umbrella over her head, and saw that it was being held by a member of ANBU. The masked shinobi didn't say anything as Kyuubi quietly thanked the man for his jester.

Once the funeral was over the ANBU that was holding the umbrella for Kyuubi finally spoke.

"If you ever need anything" as he escorted her to her apartment "don't hesitate to ask me."

"It'd be easier if I knew who you were" as she opened the door.

"Sorry" as he pulled off his mask "I used to be a student of the Yondaime. I'm Kakashi Hatake, but when I'm on duty I'm called Scarecrow. If you can't find me you can find Rin-chan; she's called River when she's on duty. She's also a former student of the Yondaime."

Kyuubi only nodded at the man that had another mask that covered the bottom half of his face under his mask. The only off setting thing about the man, was the Sharingan in his left eye and scar over it. However, badly she wanted to ask about it, she just met him and didn't want to sound nosy.

"I need to get back to my station" Kakashi said with a bow before he put his mask back on and Shunshined away.

-time skip, three years-

Rin was walking to Kyuubi's apartment to have dinner with her friend. She wasn't too surprised when Kyuubi told her the truth about herself, but understood why she lied about it. After all, who would allow a former demon to raise a respected kunoichi's son?

Kakashi got stuck with night duty with his new apprentice, code named Weasel. The boy might've been strong, even by Uchiha standards, but he was still only ten and was bound to give Kakashi a run for his money one day. It was rumored that he was a pacifist within his clan because of things he saw during the Third Shinobi War.

Rin looked at the apartment window where Kyuubi lived and saw shadows moving like there was a fight starting to happen. She quickly Shunshined up to the door and kicked it in just in time to see someone holding Naruto jump out the window and vanish from sight. Her first instinct as a medic made her rush over to Kyuubi and make sure she was alright.

While the former demon wasn't anywhere near as powerful as she used to be; she seemed to put up a good struggle for a civilian. Rin could tell that the assailant only landed one good hit to the back of Kyuubi's head and knocked her out. It relieved her that her friend was alright, but now they had an abduction on their hands.

She quickly pulled out a radio she keeps in her kunai pouch and called it in.

"HQ" she said "this is River; over."

"_This is HQ, go ahead River; over._"

"I was on my way to Uzumaki-san's apartment when I saw an altercation in progress. Suspect abducted Uzumaki Naruto after knocking out Uzumaki-san. Over."

"_Sending Scarecrow and Weasel to your position now._"

"Permission to pursue; over" she asked.

"_Denied River, stay with the injured party; over._"

Rin cursed mentally; she wanted to go after whoever took Naruto. She would be no good without a better description of the assailant. As an ANBU she wanted to pursue to at least figure out who it was; but as a medic and a concerned friend, she stayed with Kyuubi and waited for someone better at tracking to show up. It was all she could do.

After what seemed like an eternity, the two ANBU showed up. Rin gave them the description she had of the assailant and pointed them in the last direction she saw him going. There would be hell to pay if anything happened to Naruto; Kyuubi was very protective of the boy. Kyuubi slowly woke back up and was startled to see Rin next to her.

"Where's Kit-kun?" she growled "where'd that Snake go with him."

"Scarecrow and Weasel are pursuing him as we speak" Rin said as she calmed Kyuubi down "please tell me what happened."

Kyuubi told the story quickly but slow enough so her friend could hear everything.

"I heard a knock on the door and answered it expecting you" she began "but it was a pale faced man that said he was a friend of Jiraiya-sama's; so I let him in and offered him a drink. He looked around and asked about Naruto; sounding like he was checking on him for the Toad Sage. When I showed him Naruto's room, he tried to take him so I tried to stop him" tears fell from the former demon "but failed. I failed Uzumaki-sama; I swore I'd keep her Kit safe. Please you need to find him before something bad happens to him."

"Orochimaru" she said in shock "the Snake Sannin is the abductor" she said into the radio "over."

"_He's been missing for four years now; are you sure River; over._"

"Positive."

-thirteen days later-

Kyuubi was a handful to keep calm as she tried to go looking for, and many will quote, 'the sorry excuse for a reptile that took her Kit' on her own. A few of the ANBU were even afraid of her as they tried to keep her calm and in her apartment. On these days it sucked to be the new guy, it sucked a lot; because the new guy of the cell always got stuck sitting in the room with the furious woman while the rest of the cell stood outside the doors.

She might not be a demon any more, but she still had heightened senses that could allow her to find the snake. If it weren't for the ANBU that could easily detain her for at least twenty four hours at a time, she would've tried to leave already. It didn't matter to her that Rin made her give her word that she wouldn't try to go and look for the Kit herself; to her, her word to Kushina to keep Naruto safe meant more. If news about Rin, Kakashi and his apprentice having found the hideout where Naruto was hadn't come in when it did, there would've been people in the hospital.

Kakashi called in the location and was given permission to perform the rescue. Now it was only a matter of time before the ANBU could tell the angry Kitsune that Naruto was safe and on his way home. Which was something that everyone on watch duty was looking forward to, because she was on the verge of leaving by force.

-Orochimaru's lab-

Orochimaru looked at a screen that showed silent alarms had been tripped in his lab; it was now time to break camp and leave. Also, destroy anything that could be traced to his other hideouts or experiments. While it wasn't that hard to do, just set off a few explosives, he still had to get his experiment from Anko; who had taken refuge somewhere in the hideout.

She didn't like the fact that he used babies for the experiment. She often took extreme measures to try to stop him from infusing the talismans with the test subject. It took her being restrained in the dungeon for him to be able to actually start on his first experiment.

It annoyed him that out of thirteen test subjects over three years, with only one was a success. After each failure he spent at least a month looking over all his notes to see what could be done differently. He also made sure to note how old the subjects were, where they were from, and so on and so forth. He only made minor changes each time he tried again.

This time, all those minor changes had a very positive outcome; the subject survived all twelve implantations. When he did his first experiment, the child didn't come close to surviving. Until he got to his third subject, none survived the initial transplant; but even the third and fourth died afterwards. He considered himself lucky that the talisman quickly came out of the dead body; otherwise he would've been very enraged, putting it mildly.

When he finally realized he needed to use fuuinjutsu to assist the implantation, he had managed to get his test subjects to survive until he used one talisman each time; the dragon talisman, it was as if there was more to the talisman than he originally thought. While the one out of thirteen rate was better than many of his previous projects, it was still a hassle to get the thirteenth test subject.

'_Damn red head'_ he hissed as he remembered how surprisingly strong Naruto's guardian was.

"Shhh, shhh," Anko said to the baby in her arm as she tried to stay hidden "everything will be alright."

The blonde baby still cried; the pain from the experiment was still present and strong. The young boy had weird characters on different points of his body that she recognized from the scrolls that Orochimaru had deciphered. One for each of the twelve talismans that were implanted in him.

Anko couldn't remember much of the past few years, but she still remembered up till…, well that's just it; she couldn't remember where her memory cut off. She could recognize small things that would look familiar to her, but she couldn't remember where; except for the symbols on the baby she was protecting. It aggravated her that she just woke up in a dungeon one day ago; with something nagging at her to escape and to keep the small child away from her crazy uncle.

She heard someone ask a question.

"Stay quiet, Weasel" she heard as three figures rounded a corner and she felt like she was caught.

She tightened her grip on her kunai and stuck to the shadow she was hiding in. Before she left the dungeon, she made sure to grab a poisoned kunai. It wasn't that difficult to get, she just had to kill the guard for it.

She cursed at herself mentally for not being in a better hiding spot. Then again, when you're as close to the exit as she was there weren't many good ones to use. While the shadows might be enough for a single person, she was also trying to get a baby out of the hideout; said baby was also crying a little louder than she liked.

"I'm River" one figure said as he looked over to her "what's your name?"

"Mitarashi, Anko" she replied back as she glared at them with a killing intent.

She was hesitant to trust these masked figures; after all, it wasn't that difficult to either make a fake mask or kill an ANBU and take it. On her way out of the dungeon, she saw a few special ops masks from different villages; most likely used by her uncle to get… she couldn't remember what her uncle wanted from different villages.

"We're here to take Uzumaki Naruto back to Konoha" River said as she reached for the crying baby.

Anko took a swipe at her; right now she didn't know who to trust. Not only did her uncle betray her, but she knows that he could easily have some of those that work for him impersonate ANBU to get the baby back. She wasn't going to take any chances of her uncle getting a hold of the crying baby in her arm.

Rin quickly pulled back as the girl took a swipe at her. It was easy for her to understand the girl's reaction, especially if she was trying to protect a child. She was also cautious about trying again; she saw some liquid drip off the edge of the kunai when she took a swipe at her.

"Naru-kun" Rin said gently as she kneeled in front of Anko "Kyu-chan is worried sick about you" Naruto stopped crying, but tears continued to flow from his eyes.

"Stay away from him" Anko snapped as she tightened her grip on her kunai.

"Mitarashi-san; was it?" the smallest ANBU asked; she nodded "Uzumaki-san misses her son and has even tried to come out and look for him herself. Please, let's take him home" as he pulled off his mask; much to Kakashi's protest.

Anko thought he was extremely stupid, even if he was legitimately trying to help. It was against ANBU regs to reveal your face while on duty, or a mission unless otherwise instructed. This helped her feel a little more at ease with the group; at least him any way.

Anko looked at the Sharingan eyes for a brief second and looked down to the ground; she has heard stories about the power of the Sharingan and wasn't taking any chances. A few stories tell of the power to control their opponents' actions. Some told of the ability to see the future, but she didn't believe that one at all. She saw the Uchiha's feet move towards her. After the first step, he vanished.

It didn't take long for her to realize he was mere feet in front of her. She cautiously looked up at his face; to her surprise, he had deactivated his Sharingan. His natural deep onyx eyes were visible, even in the dark. The gentle look in his eyes showed he didn't want to resort to using force to take Naruto away from her; it also showed he was legitimately trying to get Naruto home.

"Please" as he held out his hand "we can take him home; all of us."

He waited for the older girl to take his hand, but he was also keeping an eye on her kunai. The last thing he wanted was to get poisoned on his first rescue mission. It would be embarrassing for him to have to return home with medical leave because he let his guard down to a girl.

Anko thought about her options for a second. She could trust the ANBU and not only get Naruto to safety, but herself as well. The one thing she wanted was to be able to return home and be a normal kunoichi. There was also the chance that these ANBU worked for her uncle. In which case she'd be thrown back into the dungeon, or killed. It was a tough call. She put her kunai on the ground and took the Uchiha's hand.

As he helped her up, he put his mask back on; thus hiding his entire face. Even the one facial feature she found interesting, his deep set tear ducts, were hidden; his mask had black lines in the same spot though. His mask showed what his code name was; because it was the face of a weasel.

The four quickly booked it towards the exit, not looking back for anything; not even the shouts of frustration that were obviously Orochimaru's. Anko smirked as she heard her uncle swearing worse than any sailor could as the sound of objects being thrown could be heard. She had taken something that was obviously valuable to him away.

Kakashi used one eye to look at the smirking girl as they exited the hideout. It wasn't a deceptive smirk, but one that showed she was the proud victor of her win. _'Definitely a weird one'_ he thought as the girl's smirk turned into a gentle smile when they got to a clearing and she looked at the moon.

"Scarecrow-sensei" Weasel said "is there something on your mind?"

"It's nothing" as they continued through the foliage towards Konoha.

-Hokage's office a few hours later-

The Hokage listened to Kakashi and Rin as they delivered the report with Kakashi's apprentice standing next to Anko. Naruto had been safely returned to Kyuubi, who seemed to growl at Anko, and was being examined by the top ANBU medic. The aged Hokage took a puff from his pipe and looked at the ten year old boy.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Itachi?" he asked as he leaned forward in his chair.

"I didn't want to resort to using violence when the young Uzumaki was in her hands" as he held a serious face "and she looked like she was trying to escape from the enemy also…"

"So you figured that because she was trying to escape the enemy, you could break ANBU regulation and show your face while on a mission?"

"I was trying to show her she could trust us" without sounding like he was back talking.

Sarutobi looked at the young Uchiha as he leaned back in his chair; while he had the final say in the boy's punishment for breaking regulations, he understood why he did what he did. However ballsy it might've been, it did work.

"Consider your probationary status reactivated" the old man said as he filled his pipe back up with tobacco "and you will be subject to a field evaluation on a random mission. Dismissed."

"Hai; Hokage-sama" Itachi said as he walked out with Anko right behind him.

Kakashi watched the door close behind the two and waited for a few seconds.

"Hokage-sama" he said "permission to speak freely."

"Go ahead" as he lit the tobacco in his pipe.

"Why'd you give him a slap on the wrist in comparison to what he should've gotten?"

"Because I understand how he saw the situation and came to the conclusion" as he let out a stream of smoke "would you have done things differently?"

"I guess not" with a small laugh as he rubbed the back of his head.

-time skip three years-

Naruto was having trouble sleeping again; every time he closed his eyes he could see a pair of snake like eyes peering down at him. The image wouldn't leave him alone; what made it worse was the laughter he heard in his dreams. It was so unique and life like, it scarred him.

He turned on his desk lamp and put a pillowcase over the top to keep the light down so he wouldn't wake Kyuubi up; a trick Anko showed him. The empty bed next to his was once the spot where Anko slept; Kyuubi had taken her in not long after she was told the details of Naruto's rescue. One of the two that knew he had trouble sleeping on occasion had been sent on a mission with Itachi, a brother figure to him.

Itachi often stopped by to chat with the three. Naruto, being the little brother he is to Anko, constantly picked on her for kissing Itachi when no one was looking; even though he had no proof. Itachi would just hold his straight face when such accusations were made, and Anko often pulled out her sharpest kunai; this would cause Naruto to run immediately.

Sasuke would join Itachi on some visits, which was a relief to Itachi since his little brother was being pressured to be strong just as the Hyuga heiress was being pressured. Sasuke would often loosen up around them and be the kid he was; picking on Itachi for looking at Anko's butt when she would walk around. Those times Anko held the serious face, and Itachi merely poked Sasuke on the forehead.

Naruto opened the desk drawer and pulled out a sheet of hand seals that Anko had copied for him to study. He had asked Kyuubi if he could enroll in the Academy with Sasuke when the summer came to an end. At first she was hesitant to let him, but eventually eased into saying yes; this made him happier than ever.

As he looked at the sheet, he made the hand seal to match the image on the paper. He did this for a few minutes and then turned the sheet over. Starting with the easiest one, he closed his eyes and put his hands together with his index fingers and middle fingers pointing up.

"Sheep" before he felt his body get heavy and slumped over.

A second later; he was floating and could see his unconscious body on the desk. He started to panic; he cried for Ki-chan, what he's always called Kyuubi since he could talk, but didn't seem to wake her. This made him even more scarred; Kyuubi wasn't a heavy sleeper and often heard when he would sneak into the kitchen for a late night snack.

He continued to cry for his mother figure, but to no avail. Tears began to flow from his eyes as he tried running to her, but couldn't move his feet. When he looked down he screamed in fear, his feet weren't feet; they were more like a single slithering appendage.

"Ki-chan" he cried at the top of his lungs hoping to wake her up "Ki-chan."

"_**Why are you being so loud? And who is Ki-chan; Hatchling?"**_ he heard as he saw another creature seemingly swim towards him.

Naruto froze in fear as he looked at the snake like creature that had a dragon's head. If he were in his body he would've peed himself. Small electric shocks jolted across the creature's body as it floated in front of Naruto.

"_**Are you going to answer me Hatchling?"**_ it asked with slight anger in its voice.

"Sh…She's m…my m…mom…momma" shaking badly.

The creature swam closer to Naruto and wrapped around him. As it did, it carefully observed the odd markings on the boy. One where his heart is, one below the center of his ribs, one on the right side of his chest, one on his left deltoid, one in between the shoulder blades, one on each palm, one on his throat, one on his right forearm, and one was at the base of the skull in the back somewhat hidden under his hair.

The creature's eyes glowed red as it stared at Naruto; observing the shaking boy before noticing a dog tattoo on the boy's stomach and a sheep one on his forehead. Its eyes widened as it recognized the 'tattoos' for what they really were.

"_**So"**_ it laughed _**"you're the new owner of my talismans; that's interesting."**_

"Tal-mans?" Naruto asked with a confused tone.

"_**Tal-is-man"**_ it pronounced correcting Naruto _**"there are twelve, but I only see eleven markings on you. Where is the twelfth?"**_

"I have a ark on my leg" as he pointed to his body.

The creature sighed; however interesting he found this, it was going to be annoying for a while. The Hatchling could barely pronounce words right and was clueless about a few things. It was beginning to wish it had stayed in the spirit realm instead of looking for its talismans.

"_**What's your name Hatchling?"**_ as it unwrapped its self from around him.

"Uzumaki Naruto" the boy said, still shaking.

"_**I am Shendu"**_ it said proudly _**"I used to be a powerful dragon until I was defeated by a shinobi and sealed as a statue; until that sorry excuse for a reptile blew me up"**_ he seemed to say with a growl of hate _**"you probably want to get back into your body"**_ the blonde nodded _**"just swim over to it and reenter it."**_

Naruto tried to, but couldn't; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't mimic the former dragon's movements through the air. After a minute of coaching from Shendu though, Naruto was able to swim through the air with slight ease. Out of joy he swam through the hall and into Kyuubi's room to show her what he could do. To his surprise, Shendu had beaten him into the room.

"How did you do that?" with curiosity.

"_**I went through the wall"**_ he sighed _**"you can do it too. Just swim over to it and act like nothing's there."**_

Naruto tried it and passed through the wall on the first try. He tried to jump for joy but his legs weren't legs at the moment. Either way though, he made his excitement known to Shendu; who had followed him through the wall.

"_**Before you get too carried away, Hatchling"**_ he said as Naruto was still 'jumping' for joy _**"I need to tell you about the talisman you are using right now"**_ Naruto quickly settled down, but was still smiling his usual goofy grin _**"the power of the sheep allows astral projection."**_

"Asto projection?" with a confused tone.

"_**As-tral projection"**_ he corrected Naruto, again _**"the separation of your spiritual body from your physical one."**_

"Oh" with a small laugh as he rubbed the back of his head.

Naruto began to feel himself being forced towards his body and panicked. Even though he was trying to swim away from his body, he was still getting closer to it; nothing he did would work. Using his arms to try to pull himself forwards seemed to do next to nothing to help.

"_**Relax"**_ the dragon said to him _**"you're simply returning to your physical body."**_

"But I wanna play more" as he continued to try to fight being pulled into his body.

"_**I have no desire to leave you alone and clueless about my talismans"**_ he assured the blonde _**"I will be right here to teach you about them as I deem you ready to use them."**_

Naruto nodded at the spirit and let himself be forced into his body. A smile grew across his face as he put the paper away, turned off his lamp and crawled back into his bed. Within minutes he had passed out from being mentally exhausted; the eyes and laughter that taunted him only a few minutes ago no longer did.


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto sat in his chair at the back of the classroom and was muttering something about sitting alphabetically. The room was a little warm, but he was also wearing long sleeves to hide the marks on his arms, pants to hide the one on his calf, and the black goggles that Kyuubi had gotten him to hide the one on his forehead. If Ki-chan hadn't told him to take off the gloves he put on to hide the marks on his palms, he'd be wearing them too. The marks on him often caused people to stare, which made him uncomfortable.

He could barely see the scrolls on the sensei's desk; they were thin though. The one thing he hoped more than an early lunch break so he could get some ramen, was that the sensei would write on the broad large enough to see from where he was. Kyuubi tried to limit how much ramen he'd eat, but of course, being Kushina's son, he always wanted some with every meal.

The only thing that was good about sitting in the back of the room was the fact he could look at the shy girl with lavender eyes that starred at him as he walked in. He had seen her around the village before when he was playing outside or doing, shutters, chores. She was always with someone from her clan and stayed quiet, but he often felt like he was being watched when he was near her.

Sasuke was in the back of the room too, so it wasn't as bad. While they weren't exactly close friends, they had a mutual respect for each other. At least they knew each other and weren't put next to two students they didn't know at all.

He also recognized a few of the other kids from around the village. There was Kiba from the Inuzuka clan, he had red paint on his face; something that's normal for his clan. Kiba's clan was known for their ability to breed animals, mostly those from the dog family. Shikamaru, who was half asleep a few rows in front of Naruto, from the Nara clan. And Choji, who was munching on a bag of potato chips, from the Akimichi clan. Shikamaru and Choji were probably the best of friends from the way they talked with each other on the streets.

There was a puff of smoke that had leaves in it and that got everyone's attention; even the sleeping Nara. As the smoke cleared, a man with a scar across his nose became visible. Several of the students recognized him, but couldn't put a name with the scarred face.

"Hello everyone" he said with a smile "I'm Umino Iruka, and I'll be your sensei" he got a round of 'good morning Umino-sensei' "please," he laughed "Iruka-sensei would be fine" everyone nodded "so, why don't we introduce ourselves. We'll start in the front."

After a while he finally found out the shy girl's name, Hyuga Hinata. He had heard Itachi talk about the Hyuga clan before, in both negative and positive ways. The clan often took care of their problems within the clan and didn't want any outside interference; similar to the Uchiha's. Their major flaw though, was that they relied heavily on their clan Taijutsu, which would be useless against ninjutsu; as Itachi explained it.

After a few more minutes, they finally reached Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke" he said in the formal manner his father had taught him.

Several of the girls looked back at the raven haired boy and were a little shocked. They weren't expecting to be lucky enough to be in the same class as the Uchiha heir. Iruka immediately knew a fan club was going to be started from how some of the girls were acting.

"Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto said with a goofy smile and tone to match.

Now all the girls were looking back to Naruto and Sasuke; unofficially, two fan clubs had formed on the first day. It was no secret that Naruto was Kushina's son; Iruka knew his work was going to be cut out for him. _'I don't get paid enough'_ he sighed to himself as the conversations started up.

-that night-

Naruto was sitting at the dinner table with Kyuubi and Anko. He was starring at the green food on his plate in front of him like it was something completely unknown even though he knew what they were; vegetables. Kyuubi wouldn't let him have any ramen unless he ate everything on his plate first; so he picked up his chopsticks and started to decrease the number of the enemy forces.

"So" Anko said as she finished her third serving and started to load her plate back up "did anything happen today?"

"Sasuke and me got put in the same class" as he made a face as he swallowed a vegetable "and a bunch of girls wanted to talk to us during lunch."

Anko smirked as she heard this; payback's a bitch. All those times he picked on her for kissing Itachi, she'd return, with interest. He was going to deeply regret those comments. Kyuubi, on the other hand, looked worried; Naruto had already attracted females to him. Not only was she overprotective of him, she tended to keep him away from girls his age.

There were a few reasons for this. One, just about everyone knows he was kidnapped three years ago; they just don't know what happened, neither does she for that fact, but she doesn't want any girl to use that to hurt him. Two, she didn't want him to become like his Uncle Jiraiya; a 'MEGA-PERV', as he proclaims himself as. And three, he already has to put up with Anko; so she figures that's bad enough.

"Did you make any new friends?" Kyuubi asked him.

"Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji" as he pushed his empty plate away from him "I also met Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, and Hyuga Hinata."

Kyuubi felt doom fall upon her; one day of class and he's met three girls, things were going to get hectic once he reaches puberty. She was beginning to be thankful that she told Naruto about his birth mother when she did; this meant she wouldn't have to answer questions that could make the Kit angry with her, and also meant he knew why all the girls wanted to talk to him. However, she did leave out a few things; like the reason his mother died, the fact that she was once sealed within his mother, and that she looks very similar to his mother.

"Looks like Naru-kun has a fan club started" Anko snickered "I'm gonna enjoy this" as she took a bite of chicken and dumplings and had a large, sadistic smile on her face.

-Uchiha compound-

Itachi sat next to his little brother at the dinner table; in the formal manner that their father requires them to have. Just one more reason he believes that the 'Uchiha clan ways' are much too strict; which is why he lost the title heir of the clan a few years ago. His father was strict about what he wanted in the heir to the clan; it wouldn't surprise him if he soon removed the title from Sasuke.

He wasn't angry that he was stripped of the title; after all, he never wanted it to begin with. Even though he was a prodigy in the clan, he was a pacifist and wouldn't fight unless absolutely necessary; that was the first strike against him for the title. His father always said 'if you can't do what is necessary to begin with, you are weak hearted'; a complete lie in Itachi's eyes.

The second strike was when he joined ANBU instead of the Konoha police force; which is made up entirely of Uchiha clan members. It wasn't a secret that many Uchihas looked down on him for that fact; it has always been clan tradition for them to join the Konoha police force, but he didn't want any part of it. His father was furious when he told him how he felt about the police force.

Strike three wasn't when he refused to even think of anyone in the clan as any more than a family member. It wasn't even when he started dating Anko, which caused one hell of a fuss in the clan; not just because of her being almost six years older than him, but because of who she used to work for. It wasn't even when the clan suspected him of being a double agent against them. Oh-no, what truly got the title of heir taken away from him was when he told off not two or three, but all of the captains of the police force at the same time.

He had been called to a meeting with his father and the captains; he wasn't exactly sure of why he had to go, but had an idea. He had refused to follow the orders that told him to steal information and leak it to the clan. It didn't surprise him that they had Shisui tail him almost every day; after all, they were best friends so it would be easy for Shisui to get him to let his guard down and accidently slip some information.

When he got to the meeting he was indeed the topic of the meeting. He listened to the insults towards him, the threats to remove him from the clan, and other things he knew they wouldn't have the courage to attempt because of what he would do as a result. What truly got to him was when they insulted Anko, Naruto, and Kyu-chan; he was still unaware of her full name or her true past at this point. They called his Anko a snake-whore, Naruto a rejected experiment, and Kyu-chan things that would've gotten any woman to attack the one that said it.

"Those that go against 'tradition'" he said bluntly "aren't fools, pacifists aren't weak, but it's those that rely on a kekkei genkai for power, are pathetically and foolishly weak. That's the problem with the clan," without activating his Sharingan "you all rely too much on the Sharingan, and by doing so have become weak and arrogant."

Without another word he walked out of the meeting room and towards Anko's so he could keep his head leveled. When he got there he explained what happened to Kyuubi and Anko, Naruto was asleep, and they nearly lost it. If Naruto weren't asleep, he was sure that shouts of anger would've been heard all the way to the compound he had just come from. He reminded them that the ones that said those things weren't worth the trouble of a fight and quickly got them to settle down.

That was about six months ago; now things weren't much better, the captains officially hated his guts. He was also getting suspicious of Shisui and the reason he was tailing him with more of the intent to spy rather than keep tabs. He was also acting strangely around him; never making eye contact, overusing Honorables, and never deactivating his Sharingan, which was weird because they've always deactivated it when they spoke with each other.

Things had never added up since Shisui went on that one mission; it was in his eyes. His mission was a simple assassination, ordered by the Uchiha clan of course, but it was still within the sealed vaults under the compound. Itachi wanted to know what happened to his friend on that mission, but couldn't because Shisui had slowly become more and more distant from him.

"Itachi-san" one of the servants said to him as she placed the plate down "you have a visitor in the court yard."

"Thank you" as he got up and walked out of the dinner area.

The court yard wasn't huge, but it wasn't average either; about forty meters by forty meters. Itachi always fed the birds that were sitting in the bushes; especially the crows. While many looked at crows as a foresight for death, he knew that death was something no one could escape and took a liking to the 'death seers'.

"Weasel-sama" an ANBU said to him with a bow to his captain; Itachi had become an ANBU captain of his squad after Kakashi had passed the promotion over.

"Mantas-san" returning the bow "what has happened?"

"Someone had broken into the sealed files vault and stolen a few of our highest classified documents" shame was noticeable in his voice as he said this.

Itachi's eyes widened when he heard the news; no one had ever broken into the vault. It was hidden well within the heart of ANBU HQ, so even thinking about it would classify one as suicidal.

"When?"

"We found out twenty minutes ago" Mantas continued the report "we believe it was someone apart of the Uchiha clan, sir" not wanting to get on Itachi's bad side by leaving things out "and not just anyone" Itachi was about to ask when Mantas answered the question "we have video images of Uchiha Shisui walking within high security areas; he was fighting his way to the vault."

Itachi took off immediately from the court yard, cursing himself for not seeing something like this coming. He would be sure to catch his friend and make him explain himself before he turned him over to Ibiki. The only question he had was why would he do this; what did he have to gain from this action?

Jumping from roof top to roof top with his Sharingan activated so he could scan his surroundings faster. Clearing the Uchiha compound, he headed towards the industrial district of Konoha; slowly making his way towards Hokage Tower so he could then make his way towards the Main Gate of the village in case, Kami forbid, Shisui would try to leave so he could sell the files to enemy villages. Each chakra jump might've taken him closer to the Tower, but it felt like he was getting nowhere in his pursuit.

After clearing the restaurant district and the housing districts, he was finally heading towards the Main Gates. He knew that at this rate, he would have to fight his friend to get the files back; even if he hadn't made it outside the gates yet.

"Shisui" he cried out as he saw his friend with a backpack on just outside the gate "Get back here!"

Shisui started running, which was highly unusual for him; Shisui of the Body Flicker, the master of the Shunshin no Jutsu. Itachi disappeared and reappeared in front of him; while Taijutsu wasn't his specialty he knew enough to at least catch up with a target and beat them before having to resort to a full scale fight.

-ANBU HQ-

"Has the suspect been captured yet?" Kakashi asked as he put his ANBU mask on and geared up for a hunt.

"Itachi was seen pursuing him outside of the Main Gate."

Kakashi grabbed his sword and moved out to catch up with his former student. This was going to be a very bad mission; he just knew it. It was in his gut; what made it worse was the feeling that this could only be the beginning of something far worse in the long run.

-Itachi-

He couldn't just incapacitate his friend; something he cursed himself for as he looked at his dead friend on the ground. Tears of sadness flowed from his eyes; his closest friend had betrayed him and he couldn't ask why. Yes he stopped the files from leaving his sight, but at what cost; he had to kill his best friend.

He grabbed his gut and fell to his knees right before he threw up. He couldn't believe what he had just done; even if it was for the safety of the village, Shisui was still his best friend. The one he often competed with when he was in the Academy and up till the Third Shinobi War; when he became a pacifist.

Suddenly, a sharp pain could be felt in his eyes; like someone was digging a kunai into them at a weird angle. He felt something cold running down his cheeks, and rubbed at it; to his surprise, he was crying blood.

'_What's happening?'_ he asked himself.

"Looks like you've finally unlocked the true power of Sharingan" he heard from behind him "the Mangekyō Sharingan. Even if it was by accident" as footsteps towards him could be heard "oh-well; I have what my team mate wants; and I will get my revenge on that demoness and my team mate will have his experiment back."

Itachi knew exactly who the voice was talking about; Naruto. He couldn't let this person get away with information that could put his friends in danger; he stood up and looked at the person. The orange spiraled mask concealed his face; but it was obviously an Uchiha, the Sharingan in his eye made that clear.

"However strong you might be" he said "you've only begun to understand the power of Sharingan. Even your friend knew more about it than you; he knew how to control others. Just as I do" smiling underneath his mask "I'll do you a favor; if you don't wish to go blind because of Mangekyo Sharingan I suggest you only use it when absolutely necessary. I learned that lesson the hard way."

Itachi saw the file in the masked man's hand and knew he had to get it away from him. He grabbed three kunai and threw them at him, but the man swirled out of existence; file in hand. The sharp pain returned to his eyes and he fell to the ground in pain and puked again. It wasn't long after that, that he blacked out.

-Time skip; six months-

Itachi and Anko were lying together in bed; his hand rubbing her bare shoulder. The bed sheets barely up to his chest, and his Anko lying across his chest. Neither of them could really stay awake after a session like they just had, but he couldn't pass out like Anko had. He had a feeling that something was going to happen tonight that could cost him.

He carefully slipped out from underneath his snake-charmer and walked over to the window. The moon looked larger tonight; hinting at something with the slight red tint as it rose higher into the sky. It only made the feeling he had get worse and he let out a rather loud sigh.

"I'm sure Naruto-kun and Kyu-chan are fine;" he said to convince himself "after all Jiraiya-sama is in the village for a few more days."

He felt warm arms wrap around his bare torso; followed by the soft skin of his snake-charmer. A smile formed on his face as he inhaled and caught her scent. The smell of sex was strong on both of them; neither of them cared though.

"Don't forget that they've been moved to a classified location after…" not wanting to go any farther but she knew he understood what she meant.

It was after that, that Itachi became aware of Kyuubi's linage. Saying he was shocked would be an understatement; it took him a while to fully grasp the truth, but he doesn't care about Kyuubi formerly being the Queen of Demons. After all, she is a good person; regardless of her linage.

Anko let go of Itachi and grabbed the base of her neck and grunted in pain as she began to fall to the ground. Itachi caught her before she hit the floor and knew what it meant; Orochimaru was nearby. Fear filled his heart as he picked up Anko and placed her in the bed.

He had never seen Anko in so much pain; even if she did insist on him being a little rough on her when they had sex. He was never overly rough with her, just enough so she'd be satisfied. This was completely different; this wasn't the pleasurable pain he gives her during sex, this was anguish. The mark on her neck was hurting her.

He had to go and find the rogue shinobi if he was in the village; then kill him, for Naruto's safety. He made a Kage Bunshin to stay with Anko while he went to inform the Hokage. The clone took Anko's hand and held it gently as the real Itachi put his clothes on and headed out to find the Snake-teme that's caused Anko so much pain.

-Uchiha Compound-

Sasuke ran into his brother's room and hid under the bed, just as his father had told him to do. Screams of pain and metal clanging against metal could be heard, even in Itachi's room. Something horrible was happening, and he was scared. He heard a woman scream; the scream sounded like his mother's. He crawled out from underneath the bed and ran to the source of the scream.

His run took him outside where he saw the source of the scream, and why it was let out. His mother was kneeling next to his father; who had been killed and had his eyes removed. He couldn't believe it; his father, the head of the Uchiha clan and strongest of the clan, had been killed. Tears ran down his face as he let out sobs and ran to his mother.

"I was expecting more from the Uchiha clan" a voice said "especially since they have the Sharingan. I guess I need to get back to the true reason I came back to this pathetic village;" as Sasuke turned around to see a pale man with purple marks on his eyes "I'm looking for my experiment. You wouldn't happen to know where it is; would you?"

The pale man reached out to grab Sasuke; who was full of fear. This man that had just killed members of his clan was looking for someone else. He wanted to ask why, but his body was trembling too much to do anything but run with his mother; who had grabbed him and was running with him in her arms. The next thing he saw was red splash over his mother's shoulders before he was dropped to the ground. He looked up at his mother as she fell to her knees and collapsed to the ground dead.

He looked at his mother and saw kunai and shuriken in her back. Anger quickly filled him as he looked at the blood that flowed out of her body and pooled around her. The air smelled of iron just as fast as the blood from his mother drained from her. In his anger he grabbed one of the kunai and charged at the one that killed his mother; ignoring the slight tingling in his eyes. Before he reached the pale man though, a figure appeared in front of him facing the murderer. He recognized the ANBU armor; it was Itachi.

"Orochimaru" he said as he drew his sword "this is the second time you've infiltrated Konoha."

"How is Anko-chan?" with a chuckle.

Itachi didn't say anything as Orochimaru's left hand suddenly fell to the ground. Blood pulsed from the injury as Orochimaru let out an agonizing scream in pain. Itachi was right next to Orochimaru and preparing to take another swing at the Snake Sannin; the sound of metal clashing against metal was the next thing anyone heard.

"Now now" a masked man said "I believe you've gotten your point across Itachi-kun. Just remember that if you don't wish to go blind," as he kicked Itachi away from him "I have a collection of the most perfect Sharingan eyes. All you have to do is ask; family needs to look after each other after all."

"Itachi" Sasuke said as he threw his kunai at the masked man to protect his brother.

The masked man looked at the young boy and threw a kunai to knock the one thrown at him out of the air.

"The truth of Sharingan" he said to Sasuke "if you wish to learn it, look in the dining hall. Fourth panel from the entrance second from the wall; that is where you will find the truth" as he grabbed Orochimaru and spun out of existence.

-Time skip; three months-

Itachi, much to his displeasure, was acting as head of the clan until Sasuke became old enough to take over the affairs of the clan. While most of the shinobi that were on the Konoha Police Force were killed by Orochimaru and the masked man a good number survived with only serious injuries and were almost ready to be released from the hospital.

He quickly discovered the number one enemy of anyone that was in a position of leadership; paperwork. While it wasn't as bad as the Hokage's it was still enough to drive him crazy. The only thing that really kept him sane was going over to the Uzumaki residence; it was much quieter by comparison.

Sasuke had taken a dark turn after the near massacre; he seemed to be distant from everyone his age to the point where it was worrying. It was like he was suspicious of everyone his age; he didn't know who the pale man's experiment was. He secretly wanted to kill whoever Orochimaru's 'experiment' is. He would sit in the front of the class next to the door and watch the other students as they came in. Iruka had talked with him about it, but couldn't do anything because no harm was being done; he was just creeping some of the students out. Today though, Sasuke seemed to be less interested in looking for Orochimaru's experiment. His focus was else were as the lesson started; where was anyone's guess.

"Today we'll be discussing the basic hand seals" Iruka said to the class "there are twelve; one for each 'Noble Animal'. Does anyone know the story behind the Noble Animals?"

Most of the class was quiet; even though it was more of a rhetorical question. The story wasn't told that often, but Iruka always thought it would be good to add some interesting facts to lectures to keep his students attention. There was a hand in the air though; Naruto's. Shendu had told him the story a few times.

"Yes Naruto" with a smile.

"There was an Emperor that invited one of every animal to his birthday" he said with confidence "of those animals only twelve showed up. A horse, monkey, snake, pig, rooster, ox, rabbit, tiger, rat, dog, sheep and dragon."

"Very good" as he wrote the animals on the board "these twelve animals make up the basic hand seals…"

The lecture continued for the next few hours; it ended with handouts of the hand seals and a hint of a test next week on them. No one really paid heed to the hint, they were more focused on lunch; the fan clubs were focused on the usual, Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto didn't mind, but it did bother him every now and then; Sasuke was always annoyed.

Naruto sat with Kiba, Choji, Shikamaru and Sasuke as they ate. Naruto had snuck out a bowl of instant ramen with the rest of his lunch; he gave a victorious grin when he saw it was still there. Kyuubi would have spanked him for sneaking it out if she found out.

"It's about time you opened this bag" a small green dragon plushy (the plushy looks like Shendu did in the Jackie Chan Adventures only smaller) snapped at Naruto as it crawled out of the bag "do you have any idea how stuffy it gets in there?"

"Sorry Shendu" Naruto laughed.

"Here I thought you were smart for figuring out how to use the rat and sheep talisman together" he mumbled as he sat down on the table "can't even leave the bag cracked for fresh air" he muttered.

No one was really surprised to see the plushy. They had seen him before and Naruto told them it was just a jutsu his uncle had showed him. Animation jutsus weren't easy to perform, but if done properly by someone of his uncle's level could last a very long time.

"So I'm not the only one that snuck something in today" Kiba said with a laugh as he opened up his jacket and showed everyone a white puppy "this is Akamaru."

Naruto grabbed the plushy out of anger from the former dragon's comment. In his anger, the plushy let out a squeak; Akamaru's ears perked up from the noise. Naruto had an evil smile forming on his face as he looked from Shendu to Akamaru and back to Shendu and squeezed him again; causing another squeak. Shendu wasn't a fool; he knew what the hatchling was thinking.

"You… wouldn't…" as he glared at Naruto "dare…"

"Akamaru" he said as he reared back and threw Shendu "fetch."

"I'M SORRRRRYYYYYY" the plushy shouted as he flew through the air in a random direction.

The puppy took off after the toy like a bullet. A new chew toy is exactly what the puppy wanted; especially since he was teething. Gnawing on bones was best for him, but a chew toy that squeaks; even better because it'll keep his attention.

"You know you're not gonna get your plushy back now, right?" Kiba asked as he opened his lunch box and smiled at his goodies.

"Why's that?" Naruto asked as he poured water into the ramen cup and started eating what Kyuubi had packed him as he waited for the noodles.

"Akamaru's teething."

-Shendu-

Somehow the dragon had managed to escape the puppy; however, he had holes torn in him and his stuffing was coming out now. He didn't feel actual pain, but he knew what being chewed on felt like; his mate was into some weird things…

"Where am I" he asked himself as he looked around a corner and had a kunai nearly cut his face "target practice area" as he quickly ducked back to cover.

"Tenten-san" he heard "you're next."

For some reason, Shendu was curious about what this person could do. Why he cared was beyond him, but he still wanted to take a look. He carefully peeked around the corner again to see a small girl with buns in her hair taking aim at the wooden target that was near the corner. The girl lifted her hand and let a kunai fly as she snapped it forward.

"Perfect… shot…" the instructor said as he nearly dropped his clipboard.

"I'm better than any boy" she pouted as she walked back to her class mates, which were mostly boys.

"Looks like I found the Hatchling a tutor" Shendu chuckled as he walked back towards where he had lost the puppy.

-Naruto-

He had just finished his ramen when the fan clubs came over and started talking to him and Sasuke. While he didn't mind, he wanted to talk to Hinata; who never said anything to him but was always there. Today though, she was closer to him but still wasn't talking.

"Hyuga-san" Naruto spoke up ignoring the rest of the girls "you wanna sit down next to me?"

The lavender eyed girl immediately turned a shade of red as everyone looked at her. She often did want to sit with the blond but never had the courage to ask if she could. It didn't help that there was often two fan clubs blocking her path either. Today she was so close to getting the courage to ask before the fan clubs showed up and blocked her.

"H…hai" she stuttered as she gently pushed through the small group in front of her.

When she got to the seat she sat down; still just as blushed as before. This wasn't the closest she's ever been to him; it was when he fell asleep in class and accidently leaned on her. That was a weird story for Iruka to tell during the parent-sensei meeting. Her father was extremely upset; Kyuubi thought it was cute.

"Figures" a blonde girl sighed "she is an heiress after all. Sasuke-kun" as she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders "can I sit next to you?"

"No" a pink haired girl complained as she tried to pull Ino off Sasuke "I'm sitting next to him."

Sasuke looked into the blue eyes that were gleaming with hope. Ino and Sakura were by far the most obsessed of the fan girls. It didn't help that they were constantly going back and forth between Naruto and him. His answer to them was always the same; no answer, but get up and walk away. Just as was going to do today.

He stood up from the bench and went towards the boys' bathroom; somewhere they couldn't follow him. Did they seem nice; yes, but he didn't trust many kids because of what the pale man did to his clan while looking for his 'experiment'. When he would ask Itachi what he knew about the man he got the same answer; 'It's classified'.

"Why does he always do that?" Kiba said "if I had all these girls hitting on me I'd like it."

"I see why Uchiha-san does it" Shino said as he walked up "it gets annoying."

-time skip; five years-

Naruto was sitting in the middle of the classroom waiting to figure out what the exam was going to be on. It was quickly coming time to see who will graduate from the academy and become a shinobi. That was everyone's goal now; to be a shinobi and make something of themselves.

"The final exam will be" Iruka said as he opened up a scroll "the Buunshin no jutsu."

Naruto hung his head; that was his worst jutsu. Even though he could make two incomplete ones, he couldn't make a single one at all. It was just how it was with him; he often got fussed at because of it. Shendu had a theory as to why the Hatchling couldn't make one but could make two incomplete ones; he just refused to let Naruto know.

"Class dismissed" as he opened the door for his students.

Naruto packed his scrolls and walked out the door. The only thing that was really on his mind at the moment was trying to figure out how to pass the exam. Anko was on a mission, Itachi was busy with paperwork, Jiraiya wasn't in the village, Kakashi was on an A-rank mission and was who knows where, and Ki-chan didn't know jutsus. His hope of graduating this year was slowly dropping.

"Hey Naruto-kun" he heard to his left as he walked out of the academy.

"Hey Ten-chan" he said as he looked at her with a smile "what's up?"

Tenten and Naruto had been friends for a few years now; Shendu was the one that encouraged Naruto to ask Tenten for help with throwing weapons. At first he was reluctant because of the five year old way of thinking that girls can't be as good as boys. Anko quickly reminded him of the fact that she is better than many guys on ANBU and gender doesn't decide skills. After that, he looked for her so he could ask for her help; her greeting was not really a nice one. She had thought he came over to make fun of her; so she threw a few kunai at him, missing intentionally, to scare him.

"Got the day off" as she walked over to him "you wanna train?"

"I'd like to" as he rubbed the back of his head "but I need to learn to do the Buunshin no jutsu properly. Can you help me with it?" with a hint of hope in his eyes.

"Wish I could, Naruto-kun," she sighed "but I'm not good at it myself."

Naruto let out a sigh of defeat; he was hoping to be able to get help from a friend. While Kiba could help him, they had become more like rivals over the past few years; mainly because of the fan club thing Naruto has. They'd still hang out, but Kiba was always hitting on the girls that were flirting with Naruto or Sasuke. Shikamaru was too lazy, and he'd be the first to admit it. Choji wasn't much better than Naruto at the jutsu. Shino had that weird 'keep away' vibe that he seems to cast. Sasuke had become very distant from just about everyone and would only talk to someone if he had to.

"I heard that Hokage-sama is always willing to help anyone that asks" Tenten said seeing that Naruto was lost in his thought.

"Thanks Ten-chan" as he gave her a hug and took off towards Hokage Tower.


	3. Chapter 3

This challenge was called by notgonnasay09

-chapter 3-

Naruto sat in his desk waiting to find out who was on his team. His outfit had changed a little in the past week; curtsey of Anko. It now looked a little like hers. Black pants, black t-shirt with a red swirl on the stomach area, black 'mock' spec-ops gloves, and, of course, the trade mark jacket. While Anko kept insisting on having him wear a fish net shirt, he said that it showed his 'tattoos', as they've been come to be called as; so she let it go. He also had a kunai holster on each leg.

While he was hoping to get Sasuke on his team, but Sasuke wasn't someone that would work with others very well. Kiba would be good too; being on the same team as your rival would keep things interesting. Shikamaru and Choji would be good team mates too; they looked after each other and would most likely look after their team. Above all though, he was hoping to get put on the same team as Hinata; she was nice to him and it was easy for him to ask her for help.

He seriously didn't want to be on the same team as Shino, Ino, or Sakura. Shino was a little distant, not as much as Sasuke but still distant; not forgetting the weird vibe he has about him. Ino and Sakura were fan girls that have been favoring Sasuke more and more lately; not a big deal except for the fact that they often would go to weird lengths to try to get him. Itachi had told him stories about when the two would show up at the compound to 'study' or 'train'; Sasuke was never asked by them if he wanted to do either, so he often asked them to leave.

"How the hell did you pass?" he heard Kiba ask him in disbelief as the Inuzuka walked through the door.

A smile grew across Naruto's face; right when Kiba thought he had the advantage, Naruto was right back up with him.

"I made ten Buunshin" he bragged; leaving out the fact that they were kage-buunshin.

Kiba just starred at the whiskered boy. The disbelief was visible on the Inuzuka's face.

"You couldn't even make one complete one" Kiba growled "how do you expect me to believe you made _ten complete ones_?"

Naruto just grinned. He had the advantage this time; no question about it.

"You made ten buunshin?" he heard a few girls ask.

Naruto blanched; he really didn't want to hear the argument about who was better, Naruto or Sasuke, from the fan girls. It always happened; every time he'd say something about getting something down right, or being able to get a perfect shot with a kunai the Uzumaki fan girls would say something about how great he is, then the Uchiha fan girls would argue with them.

"How many did you make Sasuke-kun?" a few girls asked him.

"Seven" he replied bluntly "and before all of you start arguing; Naruto probably spent the week before the exam practicing the jutsu till he could make that many. I only practiced three times during the week before the exam. He wanted it more than I did; it's that simple."

Hinata sat near the front; watching with her Byakugan and listening. This was normal for her; watching from a distance. Yeah, she and Naruto were friends, but she couldn't bring herself to sit near Naruto. Not that she was really allowed to after Naruto fell asleep on her a few years ago in the academy. Her father was so furious that he had practically forbidden her from sitting near him.

A large group of girls surrounded Naruto and Sasuke with questions, comments, and flirting. She could see that this often made Naruto uneasy; just as it did this time. Having people stare at him often did that to him; so she's often tried not to, but there's just something about him she likes. Maybe it was because he was different; much like she was. Maybe it was the fact that they're both children of strong, well-respected Shinobi.

Naruto made the snake hand seal and quietly whispered "snake". He quickly turned invisible which had many looking at where he once was. This wasn't the first time he had done this to escape from someone. He had done this a few times while in the academy to hide from Iruka-sensei so he could eat ramen instead of sitting in class to listen to the lecture. Every time it had the same reaction; everyone getting quiet and looking around for the whiskered face boy.

Naruto quietly stepped on his chair and tip toed his way to freedom. This wasn't the best way to escape from fan girls but if he was surrounded, it was a better way than using the money talisman to change into an animal to hide. That was normally better for before he was surrounded and only if they couldn't see him when he did it.

"Can I sit here; where it's safe?" he whispered to Hinata, still invisible.

Hinata didn't jump at all; she knew where he was. He can't hide from the Byakugan, and he knew it; he had often used the power of the snake when playing ninja in the academy. Hinata found him every time; only Hinata. She didn't say anything; only nodding as she deactivated her Byakugan and returning her attention to the front of the class as Naruto reappeared.

She felt the bench shift slightly as he sat down next to her. Her heart was pounding; from fear and nervousness, fear mostly. Letting Naruto sit next to her could get her in trouble if her father found out; _if_ being the key word. Normally no one said anything about Naruto sitting so close to her, but that didn't mean she couldn't be afraid her father would find out somehow.

"Settle down everyone" Iruka said as he Shunshined into the room "I'm going to announce your teams."

Everyone got quiet and took a seat. No one wanted to delay finding out who was on their team; it was like Christmas for them. It was the people you were going to work with until you became a Chunin; possibly longer. The only time someone paid any attention though was when their name was called.

"Team seven" he said "Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto's heart was pounding with anticipation. Was he going to get put with Kiba, Hinata, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Choji, or one of the fan girls? He wanted to know, but at the same time; he didn't.

"Haruno Sakura" Iruka continued.

Naruto's head slammed on the desk. All he could do at this point was hope he wasn't put with the other one too.

"And Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. Sakura was practically jumping for joy; both Sasuke and Naruto were on her team. Sasuke let out an irritated sigh; he didn't care that he was teamed up with Naruto, if anything that was probably the only one he was hoping to get teamed up with, but with Sakura too; things were gonna be hectic.

"Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi" Iruka finished.

Naruto's heart nearly stopped; he knew what happened to every one of the teams that were put under Kakashi. They were sent right back down to the academy. Of all the sensei that they could get, they got Kakashi; the shit stick of sensei.

"Team eight" Iruka continued "Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino; your sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai."

Kiba had a large grin on his face; he was teamed up with, in both his and Naruto's opinion, the hottest girl in their class. Naruto might've beaten him on the number of Buunshin he made, but this was so much better. He was going to be around Hinata more than Naruto.

-Kyuubi-

She turned off the water and reached for the towel to dry off. The only thing on her mind was worry; worry that her Kit's new life would lead him to an early grave, worry that something could happen to change him for the worse. Complete worry and fear. Her shower did nothing to put her at ease in anyway. The only thing she could think of that would make her laugh would be Hiashi's face if Naruto and Hinata got put on the same team.

"He would be so pissed" she laughed as she wrapped the towel around her chest and walked out of the bathroom.

With how badly he flipped when Iruka told them about Naruto falling asleep in class against the young heiress; she could only imagine how pissed he'd be if the two kits got put on the same team. If it weren't for the fact that Iruka had told him that it was partly his fault for having a charka control lesson before hand. Naruto had done the worst of the class, but he had also shown the most progress out of them. Hiashi still said 'that boy lacks the discipline needed to be a shinobi and should be dropped from the academy'; bad choice of words especially with Kyuubi right next to him… He found out that a temper runs in the Uzumaki blood.

-Shendu-

He lay in wait underneath a dresser in hopes of a good view. His target already determined; now patience was the game, and patience was something he had plenty of. Being stuck as a statue for at least a century gave him plenty of it; then being stuck in the spirit realm for four years before deciding to leave in search of his talismans only to find them infused with a boy.

He heard the door creek open as he starred at the bottom of the dresser. Not much longer, that was the only thought running through the once powerful dragon's mind. It had been centuries since he last got a view like the one he was hoping to get within the next minute. Irritation, an itch that couldn't be scratched ever again, and an urge to jump the gun was what he felt. He leaned his head back so he could see how much farther until his target was within striking distance; four feet.

'_Giggle'_ he thought _'to think, it's been over five and a half centuries since I've had a view of her.'_

It's true; his target was once an agreed play mate of his. The stories he could tell of them would put any of Jiraiya's to shame. He heard a foot land extremely close to his head. His red eyes blinked as he saw the foot; small with delicate looking toes. This was different than he remembered her human form looking, but he really had no room to talk; he used to be over seventy feet tall.

He carefully placed his plushy talons over the lip of the dresser and slid himself out for the view. Everything was different about her; so would the view be different also? That was the question running through his mind as his eyes began to get a glimpse of his target. Even naughtier thoughts followed. Just as he thought he was going to get the view; a towel was dropped on his face.

"Damn it Kyuubi" he shouted from under the towel as he struggled to get the heavy material off him.

Before he could get the material off, he felt a powerful downward force strike him.

"How" as another strike struck him "many times" as another came crashing down on him "do I have to tell you" as four more came down on him "it's not going to happen?"

The rage in Kyuubi's eyes would have been visible to any spectators of this. A plushy getting the stuffing stomped out of him, literally, by a naked and very hot woman. While it would be a sight to behold, Kyuubi had already shown her…violent tendencies to just about everyone; so they'd quickly divert their eyes to keep from facing her wrath. Even Jiraiya knew better than to try to peep on her.

Small squeaks could be heard from the plushy with each stomp that Kyuubi brought down on it. Shendu could feel the stuffing in him getting pushed further and further out of him with each stomp on him. Why the plushy felt pain now was a complete mystery; he just felt it had something to do with his talismans within Naruto. Ever since he told the Hatchling that he'd be his mentor for the mystical items nothing had been 'normal' about the life in the home he lived in. Between being shoved into a bag, stomped into the ground, needing his plushy vessel to be replaced, and trying to maintain a low profile; nothing has been easy.

"Will…*squeak* you…*squeak* stop it*squeak squeak*?" he managed to ask between having Kyuubi's foot land on his face.

"Gladly" as she grabbed the towel and plushy and tied the ends of the towel together to form a bag around the plushy "you can come out after I'm dressed" throwing the make shift bag to the ground.

"I just wanted to see if you're a natural red-head" he complained.

He could sense that a tick mark formed on Kyuubi's forehead when he said that. He knew that she was, giggle, that was probably the only time he managed to get away with a glance. It wasn't a full shot, but it was enough to know. The next thing he knew he was flung across the room in his make shift prison. Anime tears flowed down his face as he felt himself crash into a wall.

"I know you like it rough" he said "but this is a bit unfair. I'm only twelve inches tall; you're what, sixty four inches tall?"

Kyuubi stomped the toy again.

"How many times do I need to remind you" as she ground her heel into the toy "that _you_ were the one to call our agreement off? _You_ were the one that gave up the ability to make such comments to me. And that _you_ are the one that never contacted me?"

"Kinda hard *squeak* to contact you *squeak* when I don't *squeak* know where you are" Shendu squeaked.

Kyuubi stopped grinding her foot into the plushy. Her eyes quickly showed guilt, internal sadness, and regret. She untied the towel and went to get dressed. Shendu was completely shocked at this; he had just made a comment that he knew she could've made a comeback to, but she merely released him from his prison. She could've torn him to shreds, but she didn't; she was giving him a view that he hadn't seen in ages.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he picked up what stuffing was laying on the towel.

"I don't know what you're talking about" she lied in a soft tone as she pulled out a pair of panties and a bra.

Shendu rubbed his face and felt that one of his eyes had been knocked out of place. It wasn't too much trouble to get it fixed; the Hatchling had girls in his fan club that could fix him up again. The only problem was it required him having to give up some information about the boy; so going to them was something he tried to do as little as possible.

He could see something was bugging his former sex partner; she couldn't hide it.

"We both have secrets that we've kept from the Hatchling, but they are for his own good" as he started to put the stuffing back in him "I've kept the fact that it was the same bastard that finally killed me that is responsible for him having my talismans. You've kept the fact that you're the former queen of demons from him. But we've never truly kept secrets from each other, Kyuubi-chan" as he shoved another paw full of stuffing back into its place "we're protecting each other just as we're protecting him now."

Kyuubi's eyes started to water over; Shendu had only ever called her that when he was being serious with her. He never used honorables with anyone; almost no one. Given he was from a different land as her, but he still used honorables to show he cared. They were close back then; they had to be to be able to trust each other while they fought off demon hunters. For her, it was hard watching him walk off with another female; even if it was one of his own species.

Their once easy-ish life was quickly messed up when that jealous raccoon bastard decided to try to fight Shendu. That was when things started to go downhill. After that the eight sorcerers went back to the west and almost completely disappeared from the world. The only time she had heard anything about them after that was when a rumor was floating around about a shinobi defeating a dragon roughly three centuries ago; Shendu. Why he had tried to return to the east was a mystery.

Kyuubi had tried to settle down and live a simple life with her brother; which was successful for a time. She made sure that they stayed in their human forms to keep from drawing attention to themselves. They lived a simple life where they grew crops from a nearby village and they lived peacefully. The villagers were nice and very thankful for their help, especially when it came to the colder months and crops were getting low in supply. Her brother had had the same personality as Naruto does now; hyperactive and always ready to help and make friends.

The Bijuu went their separate ways after Kyuubi settled down near what is now Konoha. A few went to the same areas, but that eventually drew unwanted attention to themselves and lead to their eventual capture. Shukaku was the first to be captured and sealed into a tea kettle; that was five hundred years ago. When Kyuubi heard that news, she laughed and said 'serves him right'.

"I'm sure you already know this" Shendu said "but the Hatchling's personality matches your brother's pretty well. I guess that's why I like the boy so much; he reminds me of him."

"Yes" as she let a slight tear roll down her face "it's hard to not see Dio in him. I'm sorry for not letting you know where I was" as she put her bra on "Dio tried numerous times to get me to tell you, but I didn't."

"Must be hard on you" as he jumped off the bed he was on and walked over to Kyuubi "every time he calls you Ki-chan" as he put his plushy arms around her leg.

"You have no idea" as tears continued to flow from her eyes.

-Naruto-

He was standing on a chair trying to finish setting up a trap for their new sensei; who was late as hell, big surprise. Even when Rin was with him, he was late; just not this late. The trap consisted of a kunai that had steel wire tied to the hilt and set in the sliding door, and a bucket of water. Ten minutes late was one thing, but three hours was ridiculous.

"Hey, Naruto-kun" Sakura said as she watched him struggle to keep his balance "is this normal for Kakashi-sensei?"

"Being late" as he finally got the bucket to balance right "yeah. Normally Rin-chan keeps him on time; more or less" carefully wrapping the wire around the handle of the bucket so it would get pulled down when the wire was pulled by the opening door "this'll teach him."

Naruto got off the chair and looked at his handy work. This was by far the best prank he had ever thought of.

"I hope that's not for me" they heard from the window.

Naruto jumped from the shock. As he brought his hand back down, he pulled the wire and got drenched by the bucket of water. Then the bucket fell on his head leaving a nasty lump as well as knocking to the ground with his ass in the air. And if that wasn't enough, the bucket pulled the kunai out of the door and it landed point first in his ass. Naruto let out a yell of pain; everyone else sweat dropped.

"Baka" Sasuke sighed.

"It was a nice try Naruto" Kakashi said with a smile under his mask "but maybe next time."

Kakashi took a look at the group in front of him. A prodigy, a fan girl, and a knuckle head; oh so familiar. The memory made him laugh.

"What's so funny Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"This reminds me of my team back when I was a Chunin" he said as he stepped down from the window ledge "met me at training ground seven in one hour" as he opened the door, stepped over Naruto and walked out of the room.

-Training ground seven, one hour later-

Naruto was rubbing his ass where the kunai had landed; it still hurt like hell. He was not expecting Kakashi to appear in the window instead of using the door, like a normal person. Windows were meant for a speedy get away or, as Gai liked to use them for, a Dynamic Entry; just as Naruto had learned while he was in detention in the academy. _'Good times'_ he laughed inwardly.

"Glad to see everyone's here" Kakashi said as he Shunshined in front of the group.

"Wow" Naruto said "you're on time…"

Kakashi merely looked at the whisker faced boy. It wasn't a death glare by any means, but it did start to creep Naruto out.

"So" Sakura asked "why are we training already?"

"Who said anything about training?" Kakashi asked.

Worry suddenly found a place in all the preteens. If they weren't starting training yet, then why were they out here?

"Then why are we out here?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi didn't answer at first; this was his test, and telling them would either completely shut them down or gives them false hope.

"I already told your parents that you might not be making it to dinner tonight" as he pulled out two bento boxes.

The trio looked at each other, mainly at Naruto, hoping that someone knew what was going on. Not even Naruto was sure about how Kakashi failed all his previous students; he kept that to himself, probably for this reason. Naruto being put on under Kakashi as a student. If Naruto knew why Kakashi had failed all the others, it would give an unfair advantage to this team; not that they need to 'play fair' so to speak.

'_Guess it's a good thing I had a breakfast this morning'_ Sakura thought.

It was no wonder why she always looked frail; she hardly ate anything. Her breakfast, if you could call it that, was very small. Naruto had told her that wasn't very healthy; having a small breakfast, small lunch and no dinner. She always said 'I'm on a diet though'; Naruto would roll his eyes when she said this and walk away.

"Can we have lunch first" Naruto asked.

"Sure" Kakashi said with a smile "if you don't mind puking it up later."

"Never mind" as turned green just at the thought.

"The rules are simple" Kakashi said as he pulled out two bells "one, no one eats until they have a bell. Two, you can use any jutsu you have to try to get one from me. Three, you have twenty four hours to get a bell. And four," as he attached the bells to his vest "if you fail to get a bell" as he looked at them with a serious look in his eye "you go back to the Academy."

-Later that night at a bar-

Kyuubi sat by herself as she sipped sake. Deep down she was cursing Shendu for bringing up Dio; she didn't tell him what happened to him until Naruto was nine. The reason she didn't lash out at him was because he was only trying to help; that and he was in bad enough shape from trying to take a peek at her. The memory of when Dio nearly walked in on them made her smile; they were all pretty embarrassed, Dio more so since he was just starting to understand the act of sex at the time. That was probably more embarrassing than when she walked in on Dio and his play mate.

'_She was beautiful though'_ she sighed silently.

That was almost three centuries ago now; right about when the Uchiha clan was formed. She never did trust the Uchihas, expect for Itachi; and for very good reason. Many of them look at someone for as their linage calls them; _'Demon'_ she heard a voice call her. The voice she easily recognized as Madara Uchiha, once a friend of her little brother; and even her mate for a short time.

She quickly downed the sake in her cup to try to force the memory out of her head. It didn't work. She still remembered the reason she hates almost all the Uchihas.

"Another" she asked the bartender.

He didn't ask questions; he worked a rather popular bar to Shinobi and saw things like this often. Drinking to forget. Sometimes it worked other times it didn't.

As she started to drink her sixth shot of sake, the stool next to her scraped the floor and someone sat in it. The person was either extremely stupid or had a death wish. Everyone knew that when she was drinking she didn't want to be bothered. She might not be a kunoichi but she was just as strong as one; and far scarier. There was even a joke running around Konoha; did Anko get her violent streak from Uzumaki-san, or the other way around?

"Hey cutie," the man said "what's your name?"

'_Damn tourists'_ she thought as she finished her sake.

"I'm not interested now leave" as she motioned for the bartender to give her another shot.

"Come on" he practically begged "I'll make it worth your while" in a provocative tone.

Kyuubi moved her leg to the side of the stool she was sitting on, and in one quick motion kicked the stool out from under the man and caused him to bash his chin on the bar. This wasn't the first time she had done this; Gai was the first that dealt with that pain, and Kakashi helped him out of the bar. He was smart enough to apologize for his drunken behavior the next day; so did she for that fact.

"You're gonna regret that bitch" the man snapped at her.

She downed her shot and stood up; "I like this bar and hate for it to get messed up" as she walked to the exit "if you're man enough, let's take this outside."

Gai was in the bar and he stood up and walked over to Kyuubi before she got to the exit.

"Is this very Youthful?" he asked her.

She merely glared at him with her drunken eyes. That was enough for him to back off; however, he wasn't going to let her fight some punk without help. He followed her outside and leaned against the wall. The first lesson anyone learned about watching her fight was, _DO NOT INTEREFER_. Kyuubi was a woman that dealt with her problems by herself. The only time someone interfered was when a Rock Shinobi was taking a detour home and had to face her; Kyuubi had put him through the ringer rather nicely. The shinobi quickly became irritated and tried to use a jutsu on her; Kakashi took over from there.

'_She might not be a Kunoichi'_ Gai thought as he watched Kyuubi and the man stand outside the bar waiting to start fighting _'but damn is she a fighter.'_

"What's going on?" he heard Kurenai ask him.

He looked over and saw Kurenai and Hinata with some shopping bags in hand.

"Tourist was trying to make a move one Uzumaki-chan" he said with a sigh.

"Does he have a death wish?" Kurenai asked rhetorically as she looked over at the two.

Kyuubi was already in a fighting stance as the other guy looked like his confidence had just be completely destroyed.

"W-what d-di-did you say her name was?" the man asked as he looked at Gai.

"Uzumaki Kyu" Gai said with a sigh "or if you've heard her nickname; The Second Red-Hot Blooded Habanero of Konoha."

The Second Red-Hot Blooded Habanero of Konoha, a nickname she earned because of her looks and her temper, was not someone to mess with. Many say that short tempers run in the Uzumaki blood; others think Kyuubi just gets aggressive when drunk, which she'd admit.

Before the man could respond, a fist connected with his jaw. Had he known who this woman was, he wouldn't have gone near her. Stories of how scary this woman was floated around the Fire Nation and even a few bordering villages. As far as hand-to-hand fighting goes, she could put even some of the best shinobi on the ground with her strength; which is now thought to only be rivaled by The Legendary Sucker's. Who, ironically, Kyuubi kind of looks up to; mainly because of the stories she's heard from Jiraiya about how badly she'd beat him up.

He hit the ground hard after soaring for a good twenty feet. He didn't want to get back up; mainly because he felt like his jaw had just been hit with a red hot sledge hammer.

"Hinata-chan" Kurenai asked "can you please help Kyu-san get home?"

"Hai" as she cautiously walked over to the still angry and drunk woman "U-u-Uzumaki –san" she said very cautiously "I-I'm going to walk you home now."

Kyuubi looked at the Hyuga heiress; the one her Kit had fallen asleep on a few years back in class. The memory made her smile.

"Ok Hinata" with a warm and drunken smile as she recollected her pose and walked over to her.

-Training ground seven-

Naruto was currently hanging upside down… by a rope… in a tree. His arms crossed over his chest in irritation, and a vein pulsing on his forehead. His jacket felt like it was trying to forcibly come off him from the weight of it; being filled with scrolls and weapons didn't help at all. The bell was right there, just out in the open; _'Shoulda saw it comin'_ he sighed as he grabbed a kunai from his holster and threw it at the rope, thus freeing himself.

Right when the kunai cut the rope he knew he screwed up; he didn't have a plan to land on his feet. So, as a result, he fell to the ground on his head. His foot twitched a few times before his legs dropped down in front of him.

"Ow" as he flipped his jacket up over his head so it was being worn right.

He quickly took a look around and saw a light in the distance. Not far in the tree line that was about twenty meters from him.

'_Trap or not'_ he thought as he pulled the slip knot loose and freed his foot _'I need to check it out.'_

-Sasuke-

He stood up to his neck in the ground, curtsy of Kakashi's head hunter jutsu. A small fire flickering in front of him, again curtsy of Kakashi. He had been like this for the past three hours; about the same amount of time Naruto spent in the tree. He had watched the whole thing of how Naruto ended up in the tree. The idiot saw a bell, went for it without checking for traps, and got caught in the rope and then got his head bashed into the tree which knocked him out.

'_Damn it Naruto'_ he thought _'I don't know what you were dreaming of to be talking like you were but it distracted me.'_

He had no idea where Sakura was, but there was no way she would be able to get a bell. While she had basic jutsus down, she had nothing higher than academy level jutsu. At least Naruto had that new Buunshin jutsu of his; maybe even a few other tricks he's been saving. He himself had the fire style that his clan specialized in. The only thing she has going for her is chakra control; something she bested everyone in the academy at.

He heard a twig snap followed by a 'damn it' that sounded like it came from Naruto. A few seconds later his theory was confirmed as Naruto stepped where he could see him. He glared at the blond, and a vein in his forehead pulsed.

"Is that really you Sasuke?" he asked.

"No you dobe" he said sarcastically "I'm Kiba."

"Nice to see you too" as he sat down next to Sasuke "how'd you get like that?"

"What the hell were you dreaming about when you were in that tree?" he snapped.

"Huh?"

"You kept saying" looking as far away from Naruto as possible "'oh Ten-chan, Hinata-hime; stop teasing'" with an embarrassed face.

Naruto turned a deep red from embarrassment. Apparently his Uncle was rubbing off on him; not something that would play over well if Kyuubi found out.

"Well?" Sasuke snapped.

"I don't wanna say" with a slight cough as he made a hand seal "Kage Buunshin" as two puffs of smoke appeared and two Narutos were standing in them "Keep watch, I'm gonna pull Sasuke out of here."

The two clones nodded without saying a word as the real Naruto started shifting the dirt around so he could grip Sasuke under his armpits. It was surprisingly easy to do. He carefully slipped his hands underneath Sasuke's armpits and lifted up with his knees. At first it didn't seem like he was getting anywhere so Sasuke was going to tell him to stop before he hurt himself. Just as he opened his mouth to say something though, he felt the dirt around him shift; or rather, him being lifted out of the dirt.

'_What the hell?'_ he thought _'How is he this strong?'_

Naruto set Sasuke on the ground and then collapsed. Jiraiya had told him about how his old team mate Tsunade would use chakra to enhance her strength; so he figured he'd give it a shot. He really didn't need to though, not when he has the Ox talisman in him; Shendu had told him that it gave him a slight boost in his natural strength when it wasn't activated. The last time he used it though, he kind of obliterated a desk… so it was something he'd only use if he had too.

"Who's there?" one of the clones asked as it heard a twig snap.

"It's me; Sakura" the person answered as she stepped into the light.

"Greetings Sakura-san" the clone said.

"Great…" the other clone moaned "just what we need."

Naruto quickly dispelled the jutsu before any problems arose. The last thing he wanted was the two clones to start arguing. As it turns out, Shendu was right about why Naruto could make two clones but not one. The tiger talisman forces him to make two instead of one; each one either slightly more good or evil that the original. Shendu had explained the tiger talisman to Naruto while he was back in the academy, but cautioned him about using it. While it split the user into two, it made a good and evil version of them. Naruto learned that the hard way in the academy during a pop quiz on hand seals.

"So…" Sakura asked "what do we do now that it's dark?"

"Keep looking for Kakashi" Naruto said as he put a fist into the air "we're not gonna be sent back to the academy. Believe it!"

-Kyuubi-

Hinata had just gotten Kyuubi to the door of her apartment; Kyuubi was currently fumbling with the keys to open the door. While she only had three keys on the ring, it was too dark to see them and she had had seven shots of rather strong sake. She finally let out a sigh of defeat and handed Hinata the keys so she could open the door.

As Hinata took the keys she noticed a small dragon keychain next to a fox keychain; the dragon looked like the plushy Naruto had, and the fox had nine tails. It really didn't look like much, but was something weird about it; normally someone wouldn't put those types of key chains next to each other.

"How long have you had a crush on my Naru-kun?" Kyuubi asked the Hyuga heiress causing her to jump slightly.

Hinata turned red as she put the key in the door and opened it. While it was basically common knowledge at this point, except to her father, Naruto was almost clueless about it; so it would seem. He would often ask her for help on homework, to study, or even to get out of doing chores; but she didn't believe he knew.

"I-I-I don't know wha-what you're tal-talking about Uzumaki-san" she stuttered.

Kyuubi looked at the Hyuga girl out the corner of her eye; she knew the signs, the shyness around the Kit, turning red almost every time he spoke with her, and she saw the secret look of joy that the girl had when the parent-sensei meeting happened a few years ago.

"The Kit's not here" she sighed as she walked towards her room down the hall "and you don't have to lie to me" putting her hand on a chair at the table to keep her balance "the way you act around him is enough to tell."

"Well…" as she pushed her index fingers together and turned a deeper shade of red "a while."

"So what's stopping you?" as she started to make her way to her room again.

With how strong the sake was she was seriously messed up; luckily her head wasn't splitting… yet. She also considered herself lucky to have been escorted home by her Kit's crush, and that Anko was on another mission; she'd enjoy messing with the girl too much.

"Well…" looking away from Kyuubi "Father… is one reason."

"Don't worry about him" Kyuubi said as she gave up walking to her room and sat in the chair she used to support herself with "I know a few things about him that can keep him at bay. He and Kushina-sama were on the same team" with a sadistic smile that would make Anko proud.

Hinata's eyes widened; her father had never mentioned that he and Naruto's mother were on the same team before.

'_Could they have been like Kiba and me?'_ she asked herself _'friends but with father wanting to be more than that?'_

"What's the other reason?" Kyuubi asked snapping Hinata out of her thoughts.

"All the fan girls" she said with a sad tone "their always around him and I-I can never get time alone with him."

"He doesn't see any of them" Kyuubi assured the Hyuga as she stretched "the only ones he sees is Tenten and you. Reason being," as she looked at Hinata with a smile "you two see him for him; not his linage."

Hope filled her heart as she heard this; while she often saw how uncomfortable Naruto got while he was surrounded by the fan girls, she often questioned if it was just him playing hard to get. Now though, now she knew it truly made him uncomfortable and that he likes her. To the heiress, nothing could make this day better. She had been put on a team under a motherly figure to her, she passed the test that Kurenai had given them, and now she knows that Naruto sees her.

"Damn" Kyuubi said as she rubbed her knuckles "I didn't think I hit him that hard."

Hinata turned on the light and saw Kyuubi's knuckles; which were busted open. Kyuubi didn't show any pain from having her knuckles busted open; truly a tough woman. Or she was just too drunk to feel the pain.

"There are bandages in the bathroom down the hall" she told Hinata as she pointed to an open door "top drawer, with the Motrin."

Hinata walked down the short hall and walked into the room Kyuubi had pointed at. The bathroom wasn't large but it wasn't small either. Simple white walls, a medicine cabinet with a mirror, a toilet, walk in shower and a small closet for a dirty close hamper. She didn't waste time as she opened the top drawer and found what she was looking for. It was surprisingly organized; everything placed in a systematic way, nothing seemed to be out of place. Not wanting to keep Kyuubi waiting, she grabbed the bandages and Motrin and headed back to the kitchen area.

Kyuubi looked at her knuckles as she waited for Hinata. The skin of her knuckles was slowly growing back; she had kept her rapid healing ability, just not on the same level as when she was a demon. This wasn't a complete shock to her; after all she has felt stronger over the past two years.

'_Could I have been wrong?'_ she asked herself.

"Kyu-san" she heard Hinata say to her as she noticed that the lavender eyed girl was right next to her "I found the bandages."

"Thank you Hinata" as she held out her hand and let her wrap it up.

"I-It's nothing" she replied "m-may… may I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Why were you drinking?"

Kyuubi let out a sigh; she should've seen that coming. She normally didn't drink, even less so when Naruto was around. Yes, she'd have a social drink when she went out with Kakashi, Rin, Itachi, and Anko but that was different. That was only one drink, with friends and being social; not like tonight, where she was drinking to forget.

"I was trying to forget something;" she replied simply "something that happened long ago. A mistake I made by trusting someone I thought cared about me."

Hinata saw a tear begin to roll down Kyuubi's face. It was like the mistake, as she referred to it as, was still a strong memory as if it had just happened. She stopped wrapping her knuckles and wiped the tear away from the red-head's face. While she didn't know what it felt like to make a mistake that big, she didn't want to see the 'Uzumaki' cry. It hurt her to see when Naruto was on the verge of crying in class after a pop quiz on hand seals; after the chaos finally stopped many called him a freak and wouldn't talk to him for a while.

"Can you help me get to my bed?" Kyuubi asked Hinata sadly "I'm a little tired now."

Hinata nodded and went back to wrapping the former demon's knuckles. She could see how hurt Kyuubi was, and wondered if Naruto knew anything about this. If he did, he probably had some way of making her feel better; if not, Kyuubi didn't want the boy to see her like this. Either way, Hinata had to ask him.

Her heart started to pound in her chest as she thought of talking to Naruto. How could she; she wasn't even brave enough to ask if she could sit next to him in class.

"What's with the light" Shendu whined as he stepped out of another open door that was further down the hall.

Hinata looked at the bad condition plushy, unbeknownst to her how it got like that; it was fine just the other day. An eye was barely holding on to the fabric material that held the cotton stuffing that allowed its form to be held. Tear marks from where the material had been ripped from the stitching that held it in place. Even some of the stuffing was still trying to fall out of the openings.

"I-I was wrapping Kyu-san's knuckles" Hinata said to the dragon plushy as she helped Kyuubi to her room "she… well…"

"It's my fault she was out drinking" Shendu sighed "thanks for helping her" as he started to walk back into the room he came out of.

"Do you need someone to repair you?" Hinata asked quickly before the plushy had a chance to disappear back into the darkness of the room.

Shendu stopped when he heard the question and walked back out into the hall. A thought now in his head; if she offered, then I don't have to give any information in return, perfect. He carefully walked over to the Hyuga girl that he often reminded the Hatchling was watching him.

"Alright then" as he waited for Hinata to return from putting Kyuubi to bed.

-Naruto-

After much argument from Sakura; they decided to stay at the fire that Kakashi made to keep the bugs away from Sasuke while he was in the ground. Naruto was currently on watch incase Kakashi decided to walk in to say hi. Currently still fuming from having to waste time and merely stand watch. While clones would've been fine, nothing is better than the real thing; besides, he had seen their limit, one solid hit.

"I still don't care what his file is" he muttered to himself as he looked around "I know he's former ANBU. I know that he's trained Itachi-Nii-san. But I also know his weakness" he looked up to the tree tops "YOU HEAR ME!" he sniffed the air "ramen's ready…" as he looked back at the fire, which had small metal pot in it.

He was starving and needed to eat something. The only reason he managed to keep moving so far was thanks to the dog talisman; which was always active. Shendu explained that it must act on his chakra giving him ridiculous amounts of it while also keeping him physically able to perform long tasks; like a mission.

"Now I thought I said no one eats till they have a bell" he heard behind him as he broke his chopsticks apart.

Naruto felt doom fall upon him as he looked back to see Kakashi standing behind him with a killer intent about him. The next thing he saw was a hand reaching for him before his vision went dark.

-Hinata-

She had quietly slipped to her room, Shendu carefully hidden in her new shuriken pouch that Kurenai had bought for her. It was larger than the one she had before Kurenai took her shopping; so it could hold more scrolls, weapons, food, and other essentials. Or, a plushy the size of the one that was currently stashed in it.

The plushy stayed quiet to keep from causing issues with being snuck in. Hiashi didn't like the Hatchling after he fell asleep on Hinata; so there was no real way of knowing how he'd react to Hinata having one of said boy's toys with her. The memory made Shendu chuckle silently. He was there when the Hatchling fell asleep on the female. While it was something he wouldn't hold over the Hatchling, he thought it was pretty funny. Especially with how red the girl turned.

He felt the pouch he was in get set on something and heard the bag get opened up. The heiress had reached her destination and was going to begin repairing the plushy.

"H-here we are" Hinata said to the plushy as she opened the pouch and gently pulled Shendu out.

Shendu looked around the room. The female Hatchling had a twin sized bed with pure white sheets, pillow cases, and matching comforter; which looked like it would belong in a more northern country with how thick it was. The ivory bed frame had the Hyuga clan symbol carved into each of the four posts. There was a matching ivory desk that had several drawers in it; that is where he was currently being taken over to. When he was set down he had a view of the other half of the room; not much but a closest… something he'd explore later…

"So…" Shendu said trying to start a conversation with the heiress "you sew?"

"Hai" with a slight blush of embarrassment "m-my father looks d-down at it…" as she looked down like she had done something wrong.

Ever since she had made Hanabi a dress for her birth day her father knew. He often said that such a meaningless task should be left to the servants, not an heiress. Regardless though, she enjoyed sewing and found it to be rather relaxing; so she kept doing it. Keeping her sewing stuff in a secret compartment of a charka enhanced drawer in her desk; also staying up late so she could sew.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about" Shendu stated bluntly "everyone has their hobbies. Jiraiya and I do *giggle* research. Itachi and Anko do… well… each other" not exactly sure he should be telling the girl that part "Kyu cooks, and the Hatchling trains till he drops. Besides," as he looked back at the heiress, who had a hint of confidence in her eyes "now that I know you sew, I don't need to go to those crazy fan girls that will only patch me up if I give them information about the Hatchling."

She pulled out her sewing equipment and got to work; starting with the eye that was barely holding on to the fabric by the thread. She started with a small dab of glue to hold the eye in place while she stitched the plastic piece back into place. She was rather surprised at the extent of the damage that had been accumulated over the past few years since Naruto first showed everyone Shendu. There were several patch jobs that were good, but were starting to come undone.

Once she was done with the eye she pulled out some green thread and a smaller needle and got to work on stitching up the holes in the plushy. The stitches that were coming undone from past repair jobs were her first target. Taking extra care to make sure that she didn't make any of the existing damage worse. The work she needed to do was a decent amount already; plus she didn't really have a lot of time to spend on repairing the dragon. Each little stitch she made had a noticeable effect on the plushy; the tears became smaller, and smaller. In little under an hour Hinata had Shendu completely patched back up as good as new.

-Morning; Sasuke-

When he woke up he was expecting it to still be dark; with Naruto waking him up for his watch. There was a problem though; it was daybreak and Naruto was nowhere to be seen. All he saw was a pot of noodles with some broken chopsticks next to it.

"He didn't?" he said with anger as he looked at the noodles; which were Naruto's favorite flavor "Sakura; wake up" as he shook her shoulder.

"Is it my shift?" she asked with a yawn as she looked around.

"The Baka decided to try to eat last night" as he pointed at the pot of noodles.

Sakura looked at the pot and a tick mark appeared on her forehead.

"He's so dead" she hissed as she brushed her hair "wait…" realizing that Naruto was missing "where is Naruto-kun?"

"He is currently tied to a post" they heard Kakashi say "don't worry though, he's safe."

They looked towards the source of the voice to see him leaning against a tree and his nose in one of his books. His eye didn't seem to be the least bit threatened by the fact that they could attack him at any moment. As far as he was concerned; the team had failed his test miserably. Almost twenty hours had passed and none of them had a bell and one broke the rules that were stated before they started. There was only one way he'd pass them now, but that wasn't likely to happen.

"Does this mean we failed?" Sasuke asked as he walked towards Kakashi.

"Yes" without looking up from his book.

"But why?" Sakura whined "Naruto-kun's the one that messed up. Why are we all being punished for his mistake?"

Kakashi closed his book and looked at her. He had a simple answer; one that was, in its own right, a riddle that no one before them had figured out.

"Because" as he walked towards where he had tied Naruto up at "the three of you are one."

Kakashi let them ponder his statement as he led them to Naruto. Sasuke looked completely confused by the comment; Sakura didn't look much better, even though she seemed like she might actually be able to figure it out, but that'd probably be giving her too much credit.

"Sorry guys" they heard Naruto say as he came into view "I gave in to my hunger last night."

Naruto didn't look like he had any physical damage on him, but he did look tired as all hell. He was probably forced to stay up all night by the former ANBU as part of his punishment.

"It's not your fault" Sasuke sighed "we talked you into setting up camp for the night instead of looking for Kakashi. We're just as wrong as you were."

Sakura had somehow managed to convince him that setting up camp would be a better choice than using energy they didn't have to look for someone whose location was unknown. Then he had talked Naruto into it; even though Naruto still threatened to go and look for Kakashi during his shift. That was Sasuke's original thought when he first woke up; then he saw the food…

"You three still have a few hours to get a bell" Kakashi said as he leaned against a tree "if you wish to use that time still, you can. Just know this" as his eye held an icy glare "if you fail to retrieve a bell, you will never become shinobi ever!"

Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other and then to Naruto; all of them wanted to say something completely different. Naruto, being Naruto, wanted to accept the challenge. Sasuke, while up to it, wanted to talk it over. And Sakura wanted to downright refuse.

"Let us talk it over" Sasuke said quickly before anyone else could say anything.

"Very well" Kakashi said as he stood up "Sakura and Sasuke; you two can eat while you three talk it over. If Naruto has even a bite to eat; I will see to it that you three can't even apply to get back into the academy ever again" as he walked into the woods.

Naruto sighed. He was running completely empty and was barely staying awake. He watched Sasuke and Sakura open up the bento boxes Kakashi had brought the day before and was nearly drooling at the sight of the food. Rice that was still hot, sliced beef that was drowning in sauce, sushi that looked to be the high end stuff, and even the vegetables looked good.

Sasuke noticed his teammates look. They were all running on empty at the moment, and Naruto wasn't the type of person that would've just eaten the noodles and not tell them when he woke them up. He would've offered them some when he woke them up; Naruto wasn't a low life.

"Here" Sasuke said as he held the bento box up to Naruto "eat some."

"No" Naruto said "I messed up and I'm not gonna let you guys get punished for my mistake. You two eat; I'll be fi…" his stomach growled loudly.

"Don't be so hard headed Naruto" Sasuke snapped as he grabbed the chopsticks and picked up some food "if we're all not at a hundred percent then we can't get one of those bells. We're one team; if one of us isn't a hundred percent, then there'll be no reason to accept the challenge."

"I said no" Naruto snapped back "I broke a rule. I'm not gonna cause you two to get dragged down because of my screw up. Now don't offer again!"

"Naruto-kun" Sakura said "please eat some of mine instead of Sasuke-kun's."

"If he eats a third of each of ours we'd each have the same amount" Sasuke said as he looked at his box.

Before Naruto could say anything he realized that no matter what he'd say his teammates wouldn't let him go into a fight starving. Not only would his stomach give away their position, but he wouldn't be anywhere near a hundred percent. No matter how badly he wanted to deny it, Sasuke was right; again…

"Fine" Naruto said finally caving "but only if we accept the challenge" Sasuke nodded, followed by Sakura "one problem though, I can't feed myself. My hands are kinda useless right now" as he rotated his wrists to show them what he was talking about.

Sakura picked up a piece of the beef and put it in Naruto's mouth. It was the first taste of food he's had in a while; the beef was juicy and had a hickory smoked taste to it. He savored the taste and would never take food for granted again. When he swallowed his stomach let out a small growl of appreciation and begged for more food. There was suddenly a puff of smoke and Kakashi came stepping out with a look of raw unadulterated anger in his eye.

"What did I just tell you three?" with venom in his voice.

"We don't care what you told us" Sasuke said "we're not going to let Naruto starve while we eat in front of him."

"We are one team" Sakura added in.

"If one of us isn't at a hundred percent," Sasuke continued "the entire team will suffer."

"The three of us are one" Naruto shouted at Kakashi.

"You pass" Kakashi said with a gentle tone and a smile.

"HUH?" the three said simultaneously.

Kakashi had just contradicted his earlier statement. He passed them when he clearly said that he would make it so that they couldn't even reapply for the academy if they broke the rules again. They were clearly missing something.

"Those that break the rules are scum" Kakashi said as he walked towards a monument "but those that abandon their comrades are worse than scum. That is something Obito taught me; I was so focused on the mission that we were given I didn't care about my comrades. He explained that it wasn't because of my father's success rate for missions that made him a hero, but the fact that he refused to leave anyone behind. Sometimes it is better to break the rules and go against orders to save a comrade than to 'successfully' complete a mission. A mission is only a failure if you lose someone during the mission.

We might be strong by ourselves, but it is with others that we find a reason to fight. Bonds that we make with comrades and friends. That is what makes Konoha Shinobi so strong, the will to protect each other; even if it costs us our lives. Many die in combat, serving the village. Protecting what they love; their home, families, and friends.

To know the right thing and chose to ignore it is the act of a coward. You may have broken the rules to feed your comrade, but you knew that it was wrong to let him go hungry while you two would have full stomachs. By doing the right thing you showed courage, something that there is nothing beneath. Stand up for what you believe in;" taking a look back at the three "have the courage to fight for your comrades, loved ones, and above all" as he completely turned to face them "have the courage to fight for your dreams."


	4. Chapter 4

This challenge was called by notgonnasay09

-Chapter 4-

Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha looking for Ichiraku's Ramen Bar to get some food. It's now bee nearly twenty four hours without eating. He was on the brink of falling over from hunger. Luckily he had made it to the bar and placed his order as he sat down.

"Right when I thought Kakashi couldn't get any weirder" he sighed as he waited for his first bowl.

His comment was referenced to the Sennen Goroshi that Kakashi used on him when he first tried to get a bell. Never again will he just rush at Kakashi without keeping himself aware of his surroundings. Not only was it painful, but embarrassing as all hell. He just considered himself lucky that Hinata and Tenten weren't around to see it happen.

"N-N-Naruto-kun" he heard behind him.

He recognized the stutter; it was Hinata. The one that was always watching him. Yeah it was kind of weird, but he liked the fact that she sees him for who he is; and not for someone that is labeled as 'forbidden' by several of the older villagers. Deep down he knew that his 'tattoos' were the reason for such a label. Hinata didn't care though, she looked pass the 'tattoos' and labels that others saw him as and saw _him_.

"Hey Hinata" he replied with a smile as he looked back at her "what's up?"

Hinata felt her heart begin to race immediately. She never really talked with Naruto one-on-one before; mainly because there were always fan girls around.

"Well… I-I w-wanted to… um" as she dug through her equipment pouch and pulled out Shendu "r-return him to y-you. H-he was in p-pretty b-bad shape last night and I… well" turning crimson red "f-fixed him up for y-you…" as she put Shendu in Naruto's hand.

"Hey Hatchling" Shendu said as he yawned.

"Wow," Naruto said with a larger smile as he examined Shendu closely "I haven't seen him in this good of condition in a while" as he hoped off the stool he was sitting on and hugged Hinata tightly "thanks."

Hinata immediately turned an even deeper shade of red, which was a surprise to Teuchi and Ayame. Teuchi chuckled and muttered something about crushes; Ayame smiled and went back to cooking.

"I-I sh-should g-get going" she managed to stutter as Naruto released her from his hug.

"Wait" he said before she could even turn around to walk off "would you like to have lunch with me?"

Naruto had been looking for a reason to ask Hinata out for a while now; and now he had the perfect reason to. If her father would say anything about him being near her he could say he was thanking her for something. Rather than simply asking her out on a date; which would result in several issues. Hiashi would downright refuse to let her go on a date with Naruto, Kyuubi would only encourage it, Anko would pick and tease him about it, and Itachi would try to convince Hiashi to let them go out. All said and done, too much of a headache to ask for an actual date; so friends having lunch together wouldn't cause issues.

Hinata froze up; Naruto might've said 'have lunch with me', but what she heard was 'go on a date'. There were several advantages to having lunch with him right now; the main one being, no fan girls around. There was a down side though, if her father found out. That's would cause issues between him and Naruto. The blond boy that was open about nearly everything, the one she had deep feelings for. That's when it suddenly hit her; he said lunch, not date. If it was only lunch together, then her father couldn't get upset about her being near him.

"S-sure, N-Naruto-kun" as she fought her blush down and sat on the stool next to Naruto.

She had placed her order and waited patiently for it to be ready. She wanted to ask Naruto if he knew about Kyu's drinking or the mistake Kyu had referred to last night. The thing that was stopping her was the fact that he couldn't know and that could cause him to freak out and worry. Or worse, go look for the guy Kyuubi had 'fought' last night.

"Hey, Hinata" she heard Naruto say to her "you ok; you zoned out there for a sec."

She looked down and saw he was right, her ramen had been placed in front of her and she didn't even realize it.

"Hai" as she broke her chopsticks apart "um… N-Naruto-kun…" Naruto stopped eating his noodles and looked at Hinata "did… did you know that Kyu-san drinks?"

"I know she drinks when she's out with Itachi-Nii-san, Anko-chan, Kakashi and Rin-chan" not getting why she was asking the question "but she only has, like, one drink."

"I-I mean she… she drinks alone" she struggled to say "l-last n-night, she…" recalling the one hit knock out Kyuubi had done "she was drunk and… she got in a fight…"

"WHAT?" Naruto snapped "WITH WHO?" as he snapped his chopsticks in his hand from his grip.

His blood was practically boiling in rage and it showed in his eyes. Kyuubi was probably the one person he cared the absolute most for and would kill to protect her. She is the one that is raising him and caring for him. No one would harm her and get away with it; _no one_.

"She's fine" Hinata said quickly to try to calm him down "I helped her home, wrapped up her knuckles and helped her get into bed."

"Relax Hatchling" Shendu said "she knows how to handle herself" as he smacked Naruto upside the head "so there's no need to get so worked up. Now let the female finish asking you her question" as he glared at Naruto with his solid bead red eyes.

"Alright" he growled barely keeping control of his anger.

"Please continue" Shendu told Hinata.

"While I-I-I was wrapping her knuckles" looking into her noodles "she said something about a mistake she made. She said that she trusted someone who she thought cared for her. Do you know anything about that?"

Naruto was confused; Kyuubi rarely talked about her past, so he didn't know about the mistake. He was originally going to tell her about Kakashi's test and how his team passed; now he going to ask her about this 'mistake' when he got home.

"No I didn't" as he broke apart a new pair of chopsticks.

The two spent the rest of the time quiet and eating their meal. Hinata, while glad she was having lunch with Naruto by herself, could help but to feel like she just did something wrong by telling Naruto about the conversation she and Kyuubi had last night. She wanted to say something but would freeze up before even looking at him. Naruto tried to keep a blank mind; he knew that if he thought about Ki-chan being in a fight he'd go berserk.

When they were done eating, they paid for their food and walked towards the intersection of two streets; one way leads to Naruto's home, the other leads to where Hinata is meeting up with Kurenai and her team. Hinata had wished that they could've had a conversation while they ate, but she ruined that with her asking him if he knew. She felt pretty stupid.

"I'm sorry that we didn't have a conversation" Naruto said as they approached the intersection "maybe we can have lunch again when we have something to talk about" with a large smile.

"O-Of course, N-Naruto-kun" she stuttered back as she blushed.

Naruto quickly kissed her on the cheek and walked towards his house. If he wouldn't have been worrying about Ki-chan he would be walking with a large, victorious smile on his face. He had wanted to do that for a while now, but never really got a chance or had something to say it was a thank you kiss. Anko had taught him the finer points of how to get away with something; mainly so she could tease him about it when she caught him. She was funny like that; truly the sister figure of the household he lived in.

Hinata turned a deeper shade of red as Naruto walked off. How she managed to stay on her feet was well beyond her knowledge. Mentally she had shutdown, but physically, she was buzzing with energy now. Naruto not only wanted to eat lunch with her, but he wanted to do it again; and she got a kiss on the cheek. Her day was now better than the previous one. She unconsciously walked to where she was heading to begin with; the side track was well worth it though.

Little did either know that a certain Sage was watching them the whole time and thought the scene was rather touching. If he had known that it would've turned into that he would've taken notes on it for a future book. Luckily though he had an amazing memory, so he could easily recall the innocent lunch; he could also talk to Naruto about it. The white haired Mega-Prev made a mental note to never underestimate his nephew ever again and to watch his extracurricular activities more often; especially if things like that happened often.

"He'll make me rich…" Jiraiya said with a smile "er!" as he walked off toward Naruto's house.

-Uzumaki house-

Kyuubi had just finished taking a shower; this time there wouldn't be any issues like there were yesterday. Shendu was taken by Naruto's crush and most likely wouldn't be back until later. Naruto was still with Kakashi as far as she was aware. Anko wasn't getting back till late and even then, she'd probably clean up and go out to dinner with Itachi. The only one she'd have to slightly worry about was Jiraiya walking in; even though she'd bashed him into the ground for peeping on her in the hot springs he still tried to do 'research' as he called it.

She quickly got dressed in a golden red shirt, and jeans. Just in time too; she heard the front door open and Naruto call her name.

"Not exactly subtle Hatchling" Shendu said.

"Not going for subtle" Naruto said as he kicked his shoes off and hung his jacket on the post near the door.

He was now a shinobi and wanted to tell Ki-chan, but he also wanted to know about the thing that Hinata mentioned to him. Approaching this subtly wouldn't work; he knew it and so did Shendu. She could easily say that she has no idea what he's asking about. Straight forward was the only real way to do this. Which was something he was good at.

"Naru-kun" Kyuubi said with a smile as she saw he still had his headband "I guess this means you passed?"

Kakashi had told her about his little test. It was meant to weed out those that didn't know what being a team meant. She had confidence that at least Naruto and Sasuke would be able to work together; the Sakura girl she knew wouldn't be too much of a problem for them. Naruto and Sasuke would occasionally practice throwing kunai and shuriken together; with Itachi's help of course. From what she understood though, Sakura was a first generation kunoichi in her family so she didn't have anyone to help her; it was a surprise that she didn't try to get the Kit to help her.

"Yup" with a large smile "afterwards I went to Ichiraku's and ate lunch. That's when Hinata found me and gave Shendu back to me; I had no idea she could sew. I asked her if she'd like to eat with me."

"So you got a date with her" with a teasing smile "that's cute. I just hope Hiashi doesn't find out."

She was teasing but being serious at the same time. Hiashi was just one problem after another with her; even when she was sealed in Naruto's mother. The closest-prev would use his Byakugan to peep on her deceased vessel. Of course Kushina would find out and pound the daylights out of him, but she never actually told anyone, other than Minato, because he was from a respected family and didn't want to cause issues for her teammate.

"It wasn't a date" he protested as he turned red "it was lunch. I had to thank her somehow for repairing Shendu."

"Then why'd you kiss her?" Shendu teased.

"I'm going to bed" Naruto said as his blush turned an even deeper shade and stormed off to his room.

Kyuubi couldn't help but to giggle; she was starting to see why Anko was always picking at him. His reactions were not just cute, but funny. While Naruto did remind her of her deceased brother, he was different in how he reacted to being teased. Dio would shrug his shoulders and often tease back at her; Naruto would turn red and run after a while.

As the door to Naruto's room swung close Shendu looked at the former Queen of Demons; his former playmate. He still had feelings for her, but he had to burry those feelings and accept them as feelings of friendship rather than what they used to be to him. He knew what she was thinking; it was hard not to, especially if you knew her brother. The Hatchling was even starting to resemble the deceased fox; more so with the whiskers. The only way it would be a complete match would be if his hair was longer and red.

"You know you need to tell him" Shendu said to the fox.

Kyuubi just looked at the ground with sad eyes. She has kept it hidden from the Kit too long, she'd admit that, but she didn't want him to look at her as Madara did when he found out. She was a demon by blood, not by action; something Madara couldn't understand. Just because she was born a demon didn't mean she acted as one. If she would, there would be no Konoha or any other Shinobi villages.

"I can't" as she sat at the table "I gave Uzumaki-sama my word I would protect him. And if that means keeping my linage from him, then so be it."

She couldn't go through what Madara had put her through again. The man claimed to have loved her, but as soon as he found out her linage he betrayed her and her brother. She didn't want Naruto to hate her for something she had no control over.

"I think it would be better if he heard it from you rather than an enemy" the former fire sorcerer said "especially if said enemy happens to be _That Uchiha_" with venom in his voice "or the Sorry Excuse for a Reptile."

He and Kyuubi had agreed that Madara's name was to never be spoken at all; even if the suffix teme was put at the end. Once Shendu found out about what had happened, he wished he would've focused more on finding her than building an empire. Had he done that, his former playmate would be much happier. Dio might even still be alive. The knucklehead fox always had a way of making life interesting within the group of Bijuu and sorcerers.

"I don't think he would hold your linage against you" Shendu said "it is beyond your control; just as his new abilities are beyond his control. He didn't ask for them, but yet he has them. Many look at him as something he is not, and he hates that. He doesn't like when someone labels others for something beyond their control;" as he walked towards Naruto's room "could you open the door for me? I have some interesting information I need to tell the Hatchling" with a perverse giggle.

-Time skip; three months-

Naruto sat in front of the Hokage; his face all scratched up from a cat he and his team had to recapture for some lady. He couldn't believe that they were still stuck doing D-ranked missions. Building teamwork was something they already had and he was itching to go on a 'real' mission; so was Sasuke and Kakashi for that fact, but they kept their mouths shut.

"Can we please get a real mission" Naruto complained as the cat was handed back to its owner by one of the mission proctors "let's get some action."

Sarutobi sighed; he was worse than his mother. Kushina always hated doing lower level missions as well. The only difference was that she was more open about how she felt about them. Luckily this was something that hadn't carried over to Naruto from her; he at least had a level enough head to bite his tongue when necessary, like his father.

"Now Naruto" Kakashi said in a calm voice "these missions build teamwork and help the team see who is lacking in what areas."

As he said this he couldn't help but to think about how he wasn't much different when he was a part of his team seven under Minato. Often saying that they were shinobi, not kids that do errands or chores for others. If he had the same attitude back then like he did now, things might've turned out better for Obito.

"Kakashi" the Hokage said as he took a puff from his pipe and slowly exhaled it "do you think your squad is ready for a higher ranked mission?"

This was the only way he'd even consider giving the squad a higher ranked mission; if Kakashi felt they were ready. If their sensei said that he didn't feel they were up to it, they'd be stuck with D-ranked missions till the Chunin Exams. However, if he felt they were ready; he'd probably never hear the end of it from Naruto. Either way though, he had the final say.

"Well" the scarecrow said as he looked at his squad "I'll admit that their team work is much better than it was when they were first put under me. Their chakra control has improved a great deal, especially Naruto's. I've started to push them to increase their chakra reserves; which Sakura has done the best at, but then again she really didn't have much chakra to begin with. Sasuke has shown he knows several fire style jutsu and needs to expand on those. So I was going to start training them in Affinities but I've put that off till I feel their chakra control is at a suitable level so no accidents happen. Naruto and Sasuke's teamwork is surprisingly good to the point where if Sakura could sync with them I might be tempted to use my Sharingan when sparring against them.

I'm not concerned about Naruto and Sasuke training on their own at all. Naruto trains so much that I often have to take him home in the evening from fear that he'd get sick. Sasuke trains with his brother and other clan members so his training is just fine. Sakura on the other hand…" looking at the kunoichi "I don't think she trains enough. She has good chakra control, but her stamina isn't even close to Sasuke's; I'm not going to compare her stamina to Naruto's because let's be honest, who can actually keep up with his?" Naruto was beaming with pride when he heard this.

"I think a higher ranked mission is what they need to show them they need to train together more rather than work on their individual skills" Kakashi continued "Sakura would benefit the most from something like a higher ranked mission because it would show her how much she needs to train. Naruto would benefit because it'd show him how much he needs to work on his chakra control. Sasuke because it could show him he needs to try to work with his team more rather than try to be a lone wolf."

Sarutobi looked at the squad that looked like they had just been bashed to the ultimate level. It reminded him of his squad before he became Hokage. Naruto as Jiraiya, Sakura as Tsunade, and Sasuke as Orochimaru; hopefully it wouldn't turn out the same in anyway. While Orochimaru was the orphan of the squad, he still trained much more than Jiraiya did and it showed. Tsunade had low chakra when she first graduated from the academy and couldn't even keep up with Jiraiya. And speaking of the 'Mega-Prev', he trained but he did more research than actual training and it showed in his sparring matches with Orochimaru.

"This" the old man said as he held up a scroll with a list of missions on it "is the list of C-rank missions. These are normally given to Genin that have at least a year of D-ranked missions worth of experience or have passed the Chunin Exams and can lead their squad on the mission without any problems. Seeing how your sensei believes you are ready for such a mission I will give you one of the lower level ones" as he set the list back down on his desk "it will be a simple escort mission. Please let Tazuna-san in" he ordered one of the guards.

The door slid open to reveal an average height man with grey hair, a goatee, wire frame glasses, and a bottle of sake in his hand. He was clearly drunk. Reeking of alcohol and having the alcohol induced blush across his cheeks.

"These brats are supposed to protect me?" he slurred as he looked at the group.

"Don't doubt us; you drunk" Naruto said as he crossed his arms, already disappointed in the mission.

Sakura immediately punched him on the top of his head. While he knew when to bite his tongue when talking to the Hokage, he didn't when talking to a client. This was something that Kakashi couldn't teach Naruto by talking to him, so Sakura decided it had to be pounded into him. She didn't hit him often, only when absolutely necessary; i.e. like when he disrespects a client or adult.

"Don't disrespect the client Naruto" she said as he rubbed the impact point.

She had stopped calling him kun when she realized that he wasn't interested in her. He did it gently saying that he liked her as a friend and didn't really see her as anything but that. She truly got that he wasn't interested when he talked about his lunch with Hinata a few months ago; even admitting that he had a crush on the Hyuga heiress. So she accepted it and didn't keep flirting with him after that.

"Who's the short punk with the attitude?" Tazuna asked as he took a drink of sake.

A vein on Naruto's forehead pulsed; he knew he wasn't tall; he was shorter than Sakura after all. He just hated when someone called him short. Before he could try to move, Kakashi had a hold of the back of his jacket and was holding him in place. Naruto was flailing his arms trying to get free to hit the drunk that called him short.

"Now Naruto" Kakashi said with a sigh "you can't attack a client because they call you short. Besides, I'm sure you'll get taller when you start puberty."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest again.

"Why don't you three go home and rest up;" Kakashi said "we'll meet at training ground seven at three so I can fill you in on the details of the mission."

No one argued; just chasing that stupid cat took more out of them than they thought it would. The damn thing led them over almost all of Konoha's forested area. There was more to Konoha than the squad originally thought; testing fields, over forty training grounds, numerous lakes and rivers, several hiking trails, and a gated training area that was fenced off and had a bunch of keep out signs posted on the fence.

Naruto glared at Tazuna as he walked out; he didn't trust him. If the mission was a simple escort, why did he look and smell like he'd been drinking for the past several days? He was sure that Kakashi and Sasuke picked up on that too; they were probably thinking the same thing.

"I'm gonna go get some sleep" Naruto said to Sasuke and Sakura as he headed to his house "see ya at the training ground."

Naruto walked down the street trying not to think of having to guard a drunk for a mission. He'd rather guard someone important; like the Hokage, or a princess. That's a real mission. He let out a sigh as he thought of the odds of that actually happening; not very good. If he were to get strong enough to be a body guard of the Hokage he should be given the title. He already knew what he wanted to do with his career as a shinobi; become greater than any Kage that ever existed.

No he wasn't limiting himself to Konoha; he wanted to be the strongest Kage ever. He wanted to be stronger than the Yondaime; who was said to be the strongest Kage to date. The man was so feared that Iwa had put a bounty on him; the Tsuchikage was so happy about his death eleven years ago that he used the money that he would've paid to the one that killed the Yondaime to throw a party.

"Hey Naruto-kun" he heard from ahead.

He looked up to see Tenten sitting in front of a shop drinking tea with her team. Lee looked up and smiled at the younger boy; he has always been curious about how strong Naruto was. He made it his personal goal to fight against him and find out. Gai was sitting next to his counterpart drinking tea also; he often wondered how well his eternal rival had been training the blond and encouraged a sparring match between Lee and Naruto. Neji… was Neji. Seemed to always have something stuck up his ass, as Naruto put it.

"Hey Ten-chan" Naruto said as he stopped in front of her "how've ya been?"

She just looked at Neji and Lee; who looked like they had just got done fighting each other, again. The two were always butting heads with each other. Lee refused to listen to Neji's 'Fate' crap; Naruto gave it that title. When Neji would try to talk down to Lee, he would just take it as a challenge to prove him wrong. Naruto really wasn't any different; he hated when someone said he couldn't do something.

"Alright" she sighed "what happened to your face?" seeing the scratch marks.

"I'm guessing that Tamichi-san's cat got out again" Gai laughed remembering how Lee looked after they had to recapture that feline.

The feline had slipped by Neji, a member of a clan that is renowned for tracking down enemies with Byakugan. It gave Lee a good chase through the village's streets and alley ways. Not even Tenten could corner it with her weapons. If there was ever a mission to put a squad's teamwork to the test it would be retrieving that cat. He even wondered if that cat was let loose on purpose for just that reason.

"That's the simple version" Naruto said as he felt a vein pulse "Horse" as he put his hands in the matching hand seal.

His facial wounds slowly healed as he felt stinging. The best way he could describe how it felt would be all the pain that the injuries would give you being given all at once as it healed. Sure he could let it heal naturally, but he was going to swing by Hinata's team's training ground and say hey before he had to leave the village. And the last thing he wanted was to show he had been injured by a cat; Kiba would never let him live that one down.

Healing himself wasn't a problem to him in public; it was using the other talismans that was the problem. Changing into an animal, levitating, lifting up something that weighs more than he does, and animating something drew too much attention to himself. Yeah he would turn invisible, but only to escape from fan girls or to keep from getting caught after one of his pranks.

"Well" Naruto said as he gave Tenten a quick hug "I'm getting a C-rank mission later and Kakashi's gonna fill us in at three. I'm gonna go say hey to Hinata and get some sleep. I'll see ya around" as he walked off.

He quickly made the rabbit hand seal and vanished; he wanted to get as much sleep as he could before having to leave the village. Plus it was a good way to mess with Gai; who claimed to be the fastest person in Konoha. Now he definitely wanted Lee and Naruto to spar.

-Hinata-

She had just finished training with Kiba and Shino. Out of breath and tired; Kiba and Shino were fine.

"Hey Hinata" Kiba asked her "you need help gettin' home?"

Kiba has been trying to ask Hinata out for some time now, but never could because something or someone would interrupt them. The first time he tried, Neji appeared and said something about sex driven mutts. That resulted in a fight, which he lost; royally. Every time after that it was completely random things; one time Naruto's plushy even interrupted him. How that found them was a complete mystery.

"I'll be fine Kiba-kun" she replied.

She didn't like how Kiba was always trying to ask her out. She only saw him as a friend; much like Naruto looks at Sakura now. She didn't want to just tell him off because they were teammates and friends.

"You mustn't push yourself Hinata-san" Shino said in his usual tone "you'll end up hurting yourself."

"Yeah Hinata-chan" she heard behind her "I don't want you to hurt yourself either."

She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Naruto's voice. She did, however, turn red when she turned to see him right behind her. Naruto just smiled at her as he helped her up.

"N-N-N-N-N-Naruto-kun" she managed to stutter "w-what are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask the same thing" Kiba growled as Akamaru barked.

He really didn't like how the blond would show up and ruin his chances of asking the heiress out. It annoyed him beyond reason.

"Well…" with a large fox grin "I have a C-rank mission and I know I'm gonna be leaving the village; probably tomorrow. So I figured I'd say bye to Hinata-chan. I was thinking lunch, but I'm good with whatever you wanna do" looking at the lavender eyed girl; who was now beat red.

"Why don't you go flirt with that Tenten girl you hang out with?" Kiba snarled.

Hinata wasn't hurt when Kiba said this; she had known about Naruto's friendship with the weapons mistress. Tenten had even joined her and Naruto for lunch one day; she was nice. It didn't surprise her when Tenten told stories about arguments between Lee and her cousin.

"First off" Naruto said "she's just a friend… well actually… she did help me learn how to throw kunai and shuriken so I guess she's more of a mentor" as he shrugged his shoulders "eh. And second; I'm not flirting."

This was the truth; if he was flirting he'd use lines his Uncle uses when he's in bars. Kyuubi was not happy when she found out the Sage took Naruto to a bar to help pick up chicks; it only made it worse when he said it was for research. Just one more lesson that she had to pound into him. Yes he was technically an adult now, but he was still eleven. She didn't want him drinking until he was at least fifteen; which he understood.

"Be careful Uzumaki-san" Shino warned him "there are things about the animal kingdom that you don't understand yet."

Shino was trying to keep Hinata from being held as a prize for them to fight over; much like in a dog pack where the Alpha gets the females of his choosing. He was also trying to keep a full blown clan issue from happening; on the Inuzuka clan's side. Kiba is after all the Alpha's pup.

"Have fun you two" Kurenai said to Naruto and Hinata with a smile as she grabbed Kiba by his jacket.

Naruto and Hinata quickly walked off to get lunch while the illusions master kept the dog at bay. Naruto was pretty surprised when Kurenai first did this; he thought that only Ki-chan would do something like that. Hinata was truly thankful for that; she had told the mother figure in her life that she has a crush on the blond boy and yet Kiba kept trying to ask her out.

The two heard Kiba beg Kurenai to let go of him so he could solve the problem the way his clan solves most problems; with a fight. This only got him a very stern lecture from the woman; as well as having Shino tell him he should accept Hinata's friendship and not push his luck.

"So what you wanna do?" Naruto asked Hinata as they got out of sight from her teammates.

While she was hungry, she really just wanted to spend time with the whisker faced boy. Right now, just going for a walk sounded good; but she knew that Naruto had to be somewhere in a while. Another problem was if her father saw her with Naruto she'd get in trouble; in reality she didn't care about that because all Naruto would have to do is tell Anko, Itachi, or Kyu and things would be fine, she hoped. The thing she was more concerned about was what her father would do to Naruto if he saw them.

"L-l-lunch is fine with me N-N-Naruto-kun" as they got to a street and looked for a restaurant.

While Naruto was craving some ramen, he held off. He wanted to go somewhere nice for Hinata; after all, he wasn't sure how long he'd be out of the village with this mission. The last thing he wanted to do was take someone he cared for out for ramen when he was about to leave for who knows how long. They found one of Choji's family restaurants and went in; surprisingly said boy was busing tables today.

"Hey Naruto," Choji said as he finished clearing a table "hey Hinata. I'll get mom to be right over to get your order" as he picked up the tub of dishes and walked pass Naruto "careful. Your sis is here" he warned Naruto as he headed to the back.

Naruto would've blanched if he didn't already know that if she was here so was Itachi. If she tried to tease him, he could tease right back. He pulled out a chair for Hinata and pushed it in for her. Itachi had warned him about how much of a tight ass Hiashi could be and to be proper when in public with Hinata to keep any issues from arising.

"So" he heard a familiar female voice in the booth behind him "Itachi-kun; what should we do after we get done here?"

Naruto blanched; it wouldn't have been a problem if Anko was on the other side of the restaurant, but no, she was in the booth behind him. Of all the things that could've made lunch weird, his sister was _right _behind him.

"Are you ok Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked him seeing something was wrong.

"Yeah…" with a shaky voice "I'm fine…" _'As long as Anko-chan doesn't realize I'm here; and with Hinata-hime.'_

He suddenly felt eyes fall on him, but not from behind him; from a distance. Eyes that could only be the Byakugan, and belong to someone that would have a reason to use them to watch. The eyes belonged to none other than the head of the Hyuga clan; Hiashi.

'_HE'S HERE TOO!'_ Naruto mentally shouted in disbelief.

Life was by no means fair, but it was ironic. Anko behind him, Hiashi watching from a distance. Anko had plenty of reasons to tease him; a mistake on his part from the years of picking at her. Hiashi doesn't like him for some reason; it didn't help that he fell asleep on Hinata during class while in the Academy. If Anko found out he was here and tried to tease/embarrass him Hiashi would kill him for making a scene with the heiress to his clan being with him.

Naruto and Hinata placed their orders and talked quietly as they waited for their lunch to come to them. He had subtly told Hinata that Anko was in the booth behind them and she already knew her father was here. She didn't like this any more than he did.

"Why'd you get a C-rank mission so soon?" Hinata asked remembering that he had mentioned it earlier.

"Kakashi said something about we need it to show us that we need to work on teamwork, chakra control, and training on our own" as he took a drink of water "but hey, a C-rank mission is a C-rank mission. Only problem is we're gonna be guarding a drunk" he sighed.

"Now Naru-kun" he heard Anko's voice say "it's not right to talk bad about a client."

Naruto looked over his shoulder to see Anko looking down at the two; her arms crossed on the back of the seat, and a sadistic smile across her face. Things were bound to go downhill from here.

"Hello Anko-san" Hinata said.

"Hello Hinata" the snake-charmer replied "I hope my little brother here is behaving properly" as she pinched his cheek "I'd hate to have to teach him manners like I taught him to not talk in his sleep."

Naruto immediately turned red from embarrassment. She was going to play that one already; she had to know that Hiashi was here otherwise she would've waited till he brought Hinata back to the house for dinner. It was not a fun lesson to learn from her; then again, no lesson was fun with how she approached training others. It was no wonder why she hadn't been assigned a team yet.

"Anko-chan" he said as he tried to get her to stop pinching his cheek "can you stop. We're trying to have lunch."

"But that's what makes this so much fun" as she gave him a hug from over the seat and continued to tease him "I was wondering when you would ask her out. Especially with how often you talk about her" with a smile.

"Please Anko-chan" he begged "Hinata's father is watching."

"Oh," with another sadistic smile "well then… I guess this is going to be more fun than I thought it would be" her eyes shifted from Naruto to Hinata "did you know that when he was seven, after the whole falling asleep on you in class thing," her eye moved back to Naruto "which I still think is something you did just so you could touch her," as she pinched his cheek again "he thought he turned me into a snake. It was sooo cute; he even got a nice terrarium to keep me in till he could figure out how to turn me back. He no more got back and the transformation jutsu I used had worn off" she laughed as she finished "he was so upset at me for pulling that prank on him that he didn't talk to me for a week."

-Hiashi-

He was watching as Anko was talking about something that clearly embarrassed the blond. He was two seconds away from getting up and telling his daughter it was time for her to leave when he heard a voice.

"Hiashi-sama" he heard.

He had to deactivate his Byakugan to see who it was, and to be polite. Having his Byakugan active when he spoke to someone often made them uneasy. He was surprise to see it was Itachi.

"Itachi-dono" Hiashi replied "how can I help you?"

It was no secret that the Hyuga and Uchiha had issues with each other. After all, it is said that Sharingan came from a mutated Byakugan. And that was the tip of the iceberg. Both clans were so tightly knit that even trying to talk to the other often caused slight problems. Itachi had been trying to think of a way to fix this.

"First I wish to say I mean no disrespect by saying this" as he bowed "but the issues between our clans has reflected on every member. I noticed Neji-san having a disagreement with Sasuke the other day and wish to resolve the problem before it gets out of hand."

This really didn't come as too much of a surprise to Hiashi. Ever since his father died the boy had become very distant.

"What are you proposing?" Hiashi asked with curiosity.

"May I take a seat?" the Uchiha asked before Hiashi gestured for him to take the seat "I was thinking that perhaps the Hyuga and Uchiha could run the Konoha Police Force together. My clan suffered many losses five years ago and it will take time to recover fully; but even then, we lost some of the best Uchiha so the Force won't be back at its previous strength."

To say Hiashi was curious would be like saying Jiraiya was a pervert. It was that obvious.

"I wish to offer members of your clan the opportunity to join the Konoha Police Force. With both Sharingan users and Byakugan users on the Force, I believe that Konoha would benefit more than just having Sharingan users. Of course the final decision is up to you" as he stood up and gave a bow "but I wish to end any feuds before they actually start."

"I will speak with the clan elders and see what they think on the matter" the Hyuga replied.

"One more thing Hiashi-sama" Itachi said seeing that his attention was being redirected back to Naruto's table "Anko-chan is only teasing Naruto because the boy is like a little brother to her. Besides," taking a quick glance at the table where Naruto was red with embarrassment and trying to get Anko to leave him alone without making a scene "it is not your clan that is being embarrassed by Naruto and Anko-chan. They are only acting as siblings would. I'm sure you understand."

Hiashi looked at the table where Naruto was trying to keep the snake-charmer from pinching his cheek again. He did know what that was like; when he was a Genin he and his brother would tease each other in front of the girls they liked just to mess with each other. Hizashi would more than often pick on him in front of Kushina while they were in the Academy. What only made it worse was the fact that he really couldn't snap back at him because at the time he was the heir to the clan and was not to embarrass the clan in such a manner. However, he and his brother did act as siblings rather than main and branch house members.

"Very well" he said as he paid his bill and got up "just know that this is the only time I will look the other way on a matter such as that" as he glanced back at Naruto's table; said boy was picking back at Anko and she seemed to be turning a shade of red.

-Training Ground Seven-

Naruto was still a little upset that Anko had nearly caused a scene at the restaurant while he was trying to have lunch with Hinata. If it wasn't bad enough that she mentioned the time he thought he had turned her into a snake, she also brought up the fact that he talked about Hinata in his sleep. Normally he only teased her in private, but when she brought up that time when he thought he turned her into a snake; it was fair game to him. That's when he started picking back at her; using her sadistic tendencies against her.

"At least I had lunch with Hinata-hime" he sighed as he remembered Itachi dragging Anko out of the restaurant "and that her father didn't try to kill me."

He didn't know how or why, but he was glad Hiashi didn't. That would've caused some serious issues between him and Kyuubi; who already were exactly friends. Naruto blamed Hiashi and the fact that he was so uptight about everything. The guy had no idea how to loosen up and have fun; even if he was the head of a clan, being serious all the time couldn't be healthy. Itachi understood this fact, that's why he often goes over to the Uzumaki residence and relaxes.

"So I take it you had lunch with your crush?" he heard behind him.

Naruto jumped out of his skin and landed on his ass when he heard Jiraiya's voice. While the Sage wore old fashion wooden saddles, he didn't make any noise when he was being sneaky. How, was the question of the century for Naruto.

"Don't do that Uncle Ero-Sannin" Naruto fused at him "I deal with that enough from Anko-chan at home."

The Mega-Perv just laughed. It was true on many levels that Anko would often mess with Naruto by appearing behind him and scarring the daylights out of him. It annoyed the blond more so when he was trying to focus on training, or working on his chakra control.

"Hello Jiraiya-sama" Sakura greeted the Sage as she walked up to the two.

"Hello" as he looked at the pink hair girl and back to his nephew "I heard from a little birdie that you've gotten a C-rank mission already" with a smile "I wanted to give you something as a congratulations, and I know how just walking for hours gets boring;" as he pulled out a scroll "so I took the liberty of getting you some reading material. Sealed inside the scroll is a copy of every book I've ever written."

Naruto giggled; he knew what his uncle writes. He even managed to swipe a copy of Kakashi's once and read a chapter before the scarecrow found him and punished him for stealing the book. While he never read the Sage's earlier works, he still wanted to; and now he could. When he read the chapter from Kakashi's book it really didn't make sense; so he figured it was one of those things that you have to read from the beginning to fully understand what's going on. Then again it was just the first chapter, which normally hardly makes any sense until you get to the second or third chapter.

He was going to have to be extremely careful about where he keeps the scroll. Kyuubi didn't agree with the Toad Sannin's writings for some reason. She even threatened to cut off an important item if she ever found out that Jiraiya would base a character off her, Anko, or Naruto. Needless to say he quickly swore it wouldn't happen; at least not without their approval. Naruto wouldn't be too hard for him to bribe, Anko might be a bit of a trick, but Kyuubi was definitely never going to agree. Two out of three isn't too bad; it's still a brother and sister for a story.

"I'll be sure to keep this safe" he giggled as he put the scroll in one of the many pockets in his jacket.

"I'll get you a copy of my newest one once I finish it and it gets published" as he ruffled Naruto's hair "I'll see you around. I'm heading out to meet someone in Rain Country; I should be back in time for the Chunin Exams" as he walked off "don't forget to keep training in that new jutsu I showed you."

Said jutsu was one that Naruto was keeping secret until he had a fight with Kiba. The way his uncle showed it to him, it looked like it could put anyone on the ground with one hit. Plus it looked really cool.

"Hey Naruto" Sakura asked "how can all of his books fit on that one scroll?"

Naruto would've had a dumbfounded look on his face at the question if he didn't know that Kakashi hadn't showed them how to seal stuff into scrolls yet. Anko was the one that first told him about the ability and how it was more practical than carrying a bag that weighed a ton around on your back; plus it was much lighter. The weight of the items sealed in the scroll didn't affect the weight of the scroll at all; which could be the difference between getting out of a sticky situation without injury and getting killed.

Itachi had shown him exactly what could be sealed into a scroll; using only one scroll he practically packed his entire room. It wasn't a small room either; no it was a very large room. Furnishings that weighed a lot more than they looked; a king sized bed frame and mattress, three dressers full of clothes, every piece of his ANBU gear, and anything else that just happened to be in the room at the time. The only problem with sealing such large items in the scroll was that you had to be careful when releasing them or else you could get caught underneath it and possibly die.

"Well…" trying to think of how to explain it so he could understand it himself "with a scroll, a seal, and a little chakra you can put just about anything in a scroll. Uncle Ero-Sannin taught me how to do it; it's really cool what you can pack up in one" as he reached into his jacket and pulled one out "in this scroll I have a few Fuma Shuriken."

"I have more in my jacket with various items in them" he smiled "you wouldn't believe the stuff Anko-chan has hidden in her jacket. Never think she doesn't have a weapon; she keeps all of her weapons in her jacket" with a worried look on his face.

He really didn't want to go into that story. The short version is, he was somewhere he wasn't supposed to be with a certain Sannin and got caught. Naruto only had a few scrapes and bruises; Jiraiya wasn't so lucky. And that was before Kyuubi found out…

"Do you think you could show me how to seal items in scrolls?" Sakura asked.

"Sure;" as he put his scroll up "what kinda teammate would I be if I didn't show you how to do that?"

Naruto might not know how to seal larger items, but he knew how to seal up weapons, books, clothes, water, and other essentials. Plus he was sure that he'd need to take some more supplies for their new mission; so having a second person that can seal weapons and important equipment up would be great.

"I'll show you how to do it when Sasuke gets here" as he saw said boy walking up to them "I'm sure he'd like to know how to do it too."

Knowing how lazy Kakashi tended to get, he probably wouldn't teach it to them until after the Chunin Exams. If that were to happen and they needed a large number of weapons and they didn't have it, they could get killed. After all, Itachi did tell him and Sasuke stories about his Chunin Exam and how only half of the squads survived.

"You're sure I'd like to know how to do what?" Sasuke asked as he sat down on the ground.

"Seal stuff in scrolls" Naruto replied.

Sasuke's answer wasn't in words; he simply pulled out a scroll and opened it. There were seals written on it with Kanji for different weapons in the middle of the seals. Itachi had shown him how to seal stuff away after Naruto asked him about it; knowing that it would've been wrong to show Naruto and not his little brother. While seals weren't an Uchiha thing, he understood enough of it to at least store weapons and clothes.

Sakura hung her head low; she felt completely out of the loop. She was starting to see what Kakashi meant by needing to train more and with her team. If Naruto and Sasuke could seal things away, on top of having much more chakra than her, she was very far behind as far as practical skills went. Yes she had a lot of book smarts, but still; knowing what something is and being able to actually do it were two completely different things.

She needed to find a set of skills that would be of use to the team. But what did Naruto and Sasuke not know how to do. Naruto had an entire arsenal of skills that he had used to try to get a bell from Kakashi; and that was just the tip of the iceberg. Sasuke already had elemental Affinity jutsu that were easily C-ranked. The only thing she had was chakra control; which wasn't that hard because of her low levels of it.

Ino had her family jutsu, the Shintenshin. Given it left her physical body in a very venerable state, but it was better than just Academy level skills like Sakura had. Hinata had a better skill set than her with her family style of Taijutsu; Gentle Fist. Kiba had his clan's jutsu and Akamaru to only make them stronger when used. Even Choji and Shikamaru had some sort of interesting jutsu; Shikamaru with his Kagemane and Choji with his Bubun Baika. She was the weak link in their graduating class.

"Good to see everyone is here" Kakashi said as he Shunshined in front of them.

Naruto just looked at him with a surprised look; Kakashi was early for once. That was one heck of a change.

'_Rin-chan must've threatened him with something'_ he thought as no other answer came to mind.

"Our new mission will be taking us to the Land of Waves" Kakashi began the briefing "a small island that has no connection to the main-lands. Their main source of resources comes from the shipping industry. We will be escorting Tazuna there and act as body guards till he finishes a bridge that will connect the island and the mainland. The economy of this town isn't very good; from what I understand the shipping industry is being controlled by a single person and is charging very high prices.

We'll leave tomorrow morning at eight and head to the Land of Waves using one of the faster routes; it should take us about a day to get there."

"Why not the fastest route?" Sakura asked him.

Kakashi looked at the girl. It was a good question, considering her lack of experience, but he planned the route for a reason.

"Because the fastest route has many roads that intersect it and also there will be less people on the route I picked. Anymore questions?" as he looked at Naruto.

"What's this guy hiding?" Sasuke asked before Naruto could "he smells like he's been drunk for a few days and clearly wants a team that looks more skilled than us. Why?"

Kakashi nodded at the question; he had noticed too. This wasn't uncommon though; clients lying about the seriousness of a mission to avoid the price of a higher ranked mission. This would also keep attention from being drawn to them if no one found out. A bridge to the mainland would pretty much ruin a shipping industry; depending on how pissed off the owners would be would determine how they took care of the builder.

"Given the poor economy" Kakashi said to the raven haired boy "a C-rank was all he could afford; while not drawing more attention to himself. I'm not sure what lengths the owner of the shipping industry has gone through to stop him so far; but if he's asking for shinobi help it must be serious. We can't confront him about this though" glaring at his squad "if we push the matter we could ruin his town's chance of having a better economy."

Everyone nodded; not wanting to question their sensei.

"Good;" with a smile from underneath his mask "be sure to pack for at least two weeks. I'll see you tomorrow morning at the Main Gate" as he Shunshined away.

Naruto was relieved that he wasn't the only one that noticed the bridge builder's drunkenness. It really didn't matter though; Kakashi said not to push the matter, so he couldn't. Now all he could do is seal up some clothes, food, and anything else he might need and get some rest for the trip tomorrow.

Sasuke got up and started to walk back to the Uchiha compound. He was already mostly packed and only needed to pack clothes; the sooner he took care of that the more time he'd have to train. It wasn't going to be anything serious, but he was in the process of learning a new fire jutsu that he's been trying to learn for the last week; with all the missions and squad training, he really hasn't been able to progress with it at all.

"Naruto" Sakura asked quietly "could you show me how to seal stuff into a scroll?"

Naruto mentally slapped himself; he was about to walk off, completely forgetting that he said he would show his teammate how to do it.

"Yeah" as he searched his pockets "uh…" not finding what he was looking for "maybe it's…" as he searched the pockets in the sleeves "perhaps…" as he checked the pockets in the sides of the jacket "crap… left the ink and brush at home" he sighed "we can swing by my house."

Sakura sweat-dropped; he might be stronger than her, but he was a complete idiot at times. Given he wasn't planning on showing her how to seal stuff in scrolls when he left home, but she still would've thought he'd have the stuff with him.

-Morning-

Naruto had run out ahead of the rest of his squad to look for anything that might be a trap. He was so happy to be able to leave the village, but also… it felt weird. Leaving the place you call home, even for a short period of time, wasn't easy. Thoughts of Ichiraku's entered his mind; the smell of the beef, pork, and chicken that Teuchi cooks in with the noodles were the best. He knew what he was going to do with the money he got from this mission.

His thoughts quickly turned to Hinata. Only a few months ago he hardly spent any time with the shy Hyuga; now he was hanging out with her every chance he got. Yeah he had a crush on her, so he would want to spend more time with her to try to ask her out on an actual date; but it also felt right to him. It was hard for him to put into words.

Of course, he can't forget about the weapons mistress Tenten. Sure they had a rather bad start as friends; being pinned to a tree by kunai with a few that landed right next to his face was her greeting to him then. After he managed to convince her that he wanted her help rather than make fun of her for acting like a tom-boy, things got better.

He couldn't help but to feel a little intimidated by both of them. Hinata came from a noble clan, and her father really didn't like him for some odd reason. Tenten's aim was so accurate that if you pissed her off, she didn't need to be near you to make sure you knew…. It didn't help that Anko was constantly teasing him about being a 'Lady's Man', as she called him after he would get back from hanging out with both Tenten and Hinata.

Sure he had feelings for the brown haired kunoichi, but they were of friendship; right? Yeah they would talk a lot and often vent a little after long days, but he was starting to question if the feelings he had for Tenten were like the ones he had for the Hyuga heiress. His uncle had told him that being with two women at once wasn't a bad thing; then again, it was the white haired pervert talking… and he didn't want to ask Ki-chan about it because lately she'd been teasing him like Anko does. Shendu was completely out of the question since he was just a big a pervert as Jiraiya.

Shendu could see something was on the Hatchling's mind. He was so lost in his line of thought he walked past a puddle of water; it hadn't rained in two weeks…

Before Shendu could inform Naruto about his blunder; two figures came out of the puddle and went to wrap a chain around the boy…...

-Author's Note-

Man I love a good cliff hanger...

Poll time:

Should Zabuza and Haku live or die?


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry this chapter took so long, I had server writer's block.

This challenge was called by notgonnasay09

-Chapter 5-

Before Shendu could inform Naruto about his blunder; two figures came out of the puddle and went to wrap a chain around the boy…

The two figures couldn't believe how easy it was to fool this boy. Their plan was simple; kill the first member of the escort detail that the bridge builder had and when they stopped to investigate, kill the drunk. He had practically walked right into their trap. Some shinobi…

Naruto didn't have time to react when he heard the clanking of metal chains near him. Luckily though, a kunai and shuriken landed in the chain and pinned the owners to a tree. Sasuke was standing on the clawed arms of the two and had a kunai in each hand ready to stab the men in the shoulders to render the weapons useless. He had used Sharingan to check on his teammate and saw the puddle; that's when he decided to prepare for an enemy. The two detached the chain from their claws and put distance between themselves and the Uchiha.

"Thanks" Naruto said to Sasuke as he got ready to fight the two opponents.

Now the two could finally put their teamwork to the test. An actual enemy that wouldn't hold back against them. Naruto was the first to move as he made the rabbit seal and vanished appearing above the two clawed enemies with a scroll unraveled. He put a little chakra into his palms as he touched two seals and two larger shuriken appeared from the seals. This was a technique that he had learned from Tenten. By being in the air he'd have a better angle at his opponent as well as more room to move and put power behind the weapons he threw. He would use this to give Sasuke an opening against them and hopefully end this quickly.

He launched one of the shuriken at the two and soon after threw the second one in the direction that they dodged in. Something that Kakashi had taught them; use one weapon as a distraction while you use a second to land an actual attack. However, the two rogue Chunin from Kirigakure knew exactly what the boy was doing. It was a common tactic that worked most of the time. They had seen it enough to know how to dodge both attacks.

Sasuke was already half way through the hand seals to use the Gōkakyū no Jutsu when Naruto threw his first shuriken. His eyes were locked on the two opponents and waiting for them to move so he didn't waste the jutsu he was going to use soon. His timing had to be perfect for the jutsu to hit his targets, but he wasn't using Sharingan for this. There was no need because it was a two on two fight and they had their strengths just as the two Kiri nin did.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" as he launched his fire ball.

One of the two saw the jutsu coming and pushed his brother away from him just in time for the two to dodge the jutsu and not get killed. They had thought that the two wouldn't be a problem, but now they saw that they were wrong. The two were just as good at teamwork as they were; it was an even match. That wasn't a problem though. He quickly separated from his brother and headed to the blond that was still in the air; while being in the air might give you a better angle of attack, it left you open to an enemies attack as you fell.

He slashed at the boy with his metal claw and cut his arm. Moments later he puffed away leaving only smoke where he once was; it was the real boy he had hit, but he had a substitution jutsu ready and had a clone ready to go. However, the boy most likely didn't know of the drawback of using the jutsu; the chakra drain that hit the user when the jutsu dispelled.

"Man that was close" Naruto said as he walked out from a bush "damn it" as he looked at his jacket and saw a cut in the sleeve "I just had this cleaned!"

The boy was fine? But how; the jutsu took an enormous amount of chakra in order to use it right. The only way that he could be unaffected by it would be that he had massive levels of it naturally. Before he could react to the boy's sudden reappearance; another person had knocked him out in one hit to the back of the neck.

"Good job you two" Kakashi said with a smile as he tied up the man he had just knocked out.

He had seen the puddle of water, but didn't act on it because he wanted to find out who the Kiri nin's target was. Either way though, Naruto and Sasuke handled the ambush rather well for Genin that had never been in that situation before. Most Genin would have either over reacted or froze up and ended up getting killed as a result.

"Come on Kakashi…" Naruto said as he started to move towards his sensei.

"Don't move Naruto" Kakashi ordered "there's poison on their claws and you're cut. If you increase your heart rate it'll spread faster."

Naruto immediately started to panic; if there was poison in him he'd die. He had so many things he wanted to do before he died! Become Hokage, go on an actual date with Hinata, the list went on. If he was going to die he'd never be able to use his new jutsu against Kiba; the one thing he wanted more than anything was to see the look on his friend's face when he put him on his ass with the jutsu.

"He said not to increase your heart rate you idiot" Sasuke said seeing the panicked look on Naruto's face.

"Use the horse talisman Hatchling" Shendu said to him as he struggled to get out of the pocket Naruto had shoved him in.

Naruto quickly made the hand seal and said 'Horse'. Immediately the cut began healing and the poison was neutralized. Naruto quickly felt an urge to puke and did so as he fell to his hands and knees. Only it wasn't normal puke, it was purple-ish and somewhat clear. It wasn't a pleasant puke in any way; it burned as it came up and left an awful taste in his mouth that tasted like he wouldn't be rid of it for days. The poison had to be forced out of his body somehow and puking it up was the fastest and easiest way to do that.

Shendu just shook his head as he walked away from Naruto and was ashamed that the Hatchling had walked into something so obvious. However, he knew what the mammal was thinking about, not that it was hard to know; his females. The Hatchling had a strong relationship with the two females and it wasn't surprising that he was thinking about them; but it was still no reason to walk into an obvious trap.

Humans were too complicated when it came to Mates; most only had one. In the animal world, having multiple mates was a common thing; it showed that you were strong enough to not only protect them, but please them as well. Of course, he was no stranger to this concept; before him and Kyuubi got together he had seven or eight Play Mates at once.

'_Why can't humans be simpler?'_ he asked himself as he watched Naruto stand back up.

"I think it's time you tell us what's really going on" Naruto said as he wiped his mouth.

Tazuna looked at the ground as he finally realized there was no hiding it anymore. Now that Gato had hired rogue shinobi his life was in more danger than before. While this would deter anyone else, he took it as a sign that he was getting close to saving his village from the corrupt businessman. This also meant that he couldn't leave those protecting him in the dark about what is truly going on; even if it meant them abandoning the mission because of the lack of compensation for the level of danger they were now bound to be up against.

"My village is in a poor economic state right now because of a man named Gato" he started "he monopolized the shipping industry that we depended on for resources and started charging unreal fees for his services. At first everyone was refusing to pay the high fees, but when resources started to run low and no more coming in many caved in and paid them. It wasn't long before people had enough of the fees and tried to stand against him" as sadness from the personal loss became visible "but he was able to hire anyone with the amount of money he had to make an example of them. So everyone eventually just stopped trying to stand against him out of fear for their lives.

But with this bridge, all that can change. It will allow us to get resources without having to pay Gato and it will eventually ruin him. The fact that he's hired shinobi now shows how scared he is of this bridge. If I can complete it then our economy will stabilize and we can live better; but if you want to just turn back now I'll understand."

"I do love a challenge" Naruto said as he walked towards the woods.

It was true; he loved challenges. That's part of the reason he was rivals with Kiba. The Inuzuka was said to be the strongest of his age group from his family; so if Naruto could stay on par with him, then there would be very few that he wouldn't be able to beat in the village. Outside of the village though, that was another story. He was sure that there were several that were far stronger than the Inuzuka clan, and far more vicious about fighting…

"Where are you going Naruto?" Kakashi asked him.

"To get my shuriken" he said as he entered the tree line "it's one of the ones Ten-chan gave me."

One of his had curved into the wood line while in flight. That particular one meant something to him; it had sentimental value to him. It was the very first one that Tenten had given him when she started teaching him how to throw kunai and shuriken. The way Tenten explained it was that if he could hit a small target dead center with something that big, then hitting it with a smaller one wouldn't be too hard. That's when his aim started to get better; Tenten was a bit of a slave-driver when it came to learning how to throw kunai and shuriken properly…

"I see you" he said with a smile as he reached for the large throwing star.

What Naruto didn't know was that there was someone behind the tree just behind the shuriken. The masked person stayed perfectly still, thinking that Naruto was speaking to her. She slowly reached into her weapon pouch and pulled out several needles to throw at him in case he came around the tree. Her heart began to slow as she controlled her adrenaline to keep from moving and further alerting the boy she believed had spotted her. Then she heard something unexpected, the sound of him grunting as he pulled on something.

"Damn thing is stuck in pretty good" he growled as she heard him place his feet on the tree and begin to pull on it like that "that's it" the irritation noticeable in his voice "ox."

This confused the masked person; why would he say ox? Then she heard the shuriken come out of the tree trunk with ease. She made note of this as she silently started to put her needles away, but stopped when she heard the boy take a step closer to where she was hiding. This was starting to get ridiculous; either he knew she was there and was messing with her, or he saw something else. If it weren't for the fact that she was ordered to only gather information in the event that the brothers from Kiri failed their mission she would simply kill the boy. She heard a cracking that resembled the sound of a plant being pulled from the ground.

"Hey Sakura" he said as he finally took off back towards the road.

The masked person let out a small sigh of relief as she vanished from her hiding spot to go report back to her superior.

"Do you know what kind of plant this is?" she heard Naruto asked his pink haired teammate.

'_That was too close'_ she thought as she jumped from tree to tree.

-Later-

"He said 'horse' and then puked the poison out of his body" she said to her superior "then when he was retrieving his shuriken he said 'ox' and pulled it out of the tree with ease."

She looked up at him when he stayed quiet and was thinking. If her theory was correct then this boy would bring in a lot of money for them to be able to attack the Mizukage again; only this time, they'd be able to afford better shinobi. Her superior was none other than the infamous Demon of the Blood Mist, Momochi Zabuza. With the money from the bounty on the boy that she feared would find her Zabuza's dream could finally come true.

"What did this boy look like?" he asked her.

The boy was only worth something if he was actually the one that had a bounty on him. If he was some punk look-alike then he was worthless and not worth the trouble of capturing alive.

"Just as described on the bounty: blonde hair, whiskers on his cheeks, and blue eyes; only he naturally looks older than he was at the time the bounty was placed on him."

Zabuza looked at the information again and couldn't help but to smile underneath his bandages. The bounty was huge; larger than even the bounty on his head thanks to the Mizukage. If someone had a bounty this large on someone the odds were that they were wanted alive; which the boy was. The boy must have pissed off someone important in Otogakure to have a bounty of over thirty million ryou on his head. Either way though, it didn't sit quite right with him for a boy that was only eleven to have a bounty on him this large.

"I'll deal with this personally" he said as he got up and walked towards the exit.

With a bounty as large as the one on the blonde boy he didn't want to risk someone messing up by killing him and ruining the chances of collecting the money. That would be more than enough to have the funding he'd need to recruit mercenaries to help him assassinate the Mizukage for sure this time. The bastard had to die for what he was doing and Zabuza swore he'd be the one that would put the Jinchuuriki's head on a spike in the middle of the village. The reason is personal and he hasn't told anyone what it is; not even Haku.

"The Copy-Cat Ninja is also with them."

He stopped right in front of the door and chuckled slightly. Hatake had a bounty on him as well; nowhere near as much as his pupil but it was still money in the bank. It would be a fight worth remembering; the Copy-Cat Ninja is rumored to have over a thousand jutsu at his disposal and with Zabuza being the Demon of the Blood Mist the fight would be long and drawn out.

"Then this will be the greatest pay out we will ever have Haku" as he left the building.

-Team Seven-

Naruto looked at the flattened rubber ball with irritated eyes. He could only pop a quarter inch hole in it with his chakra; his uncle made it completely explode into hundreds of pieces. There was something he was missing; it was starting to annoy him beyond reason. His perverted uncle didn't give him any tips or hints for how to do this part.

"Don't use too much charka Naruto" Kakashi said with a slight smile underneath his mask "you might need it."

While the blonde's persistence made the Cyclops smile; it was also one of Naruto's faults. He didn't know when to quit and, even with his massive charka reserves, it often bit the blonde in the ass rather hard. On their third day of training as a team he had used the Kage Buunshin so much that he could hardly move by lunch time. After that he had to give Naruto a day to recover fully before they could start training again; there seemed to be a lot of thinking that doing the lone wolf thing worked.

"Come on Kakashi-sensei. Just one more;" Naruto begged "if I don't get it I'll wait till were at Tazuna's house."

At least Naruto knew how to bargain with someone; had to be something he picked up from his sister. If anything that's where he got a lot of his oddball traits from. The snake-charmer was a mixed influence on the boy and it showed very easily; starting with the jacket. She didn't help at all with his addiction to ramen, she merely edged it on like nothing was wrong with it; but then again, the woman did have a taste for some of the weirdest dango and bean pastes.

"Alright" the silver haired man said with a sigh.

Naruto pulled out a scroll from his jacket and opened it up. All the kanji read 'ball' except for the first five which read 'flat'. The blond boy put the flattened ball on the empty space, focused a little chakra into it and the ball disappeared with a puff of smoke. He placed his hand on the next kanji for ball, put a little chakra in it and got the item he had sealed away. The white rubber ball could hold back a lot of chakra and took even more to make it pop.

'_I knew I should've asked Hinata-hime to come with me'_ Naruto thought with a sigh _'then I'd know just how to do this. Uncle Ero-Sannin, you suck at teaching.'_

The Toad Sage might have been the Yondaime's sensei, but Naruto was questioning if he was self taught. The perverted old man might be a sannin, but his version of teaching was a demonstration or two and then leaving to do 'research'. Naruto rolled up the scroll and put it back in the pocket he had fished it out of. As he did so, a thought came to him; he held the ball in his right hand and did everything the same as every time before now, but when the ball started to show signs of movement he used his left hand to add to the typhoon within the ball. Pressure built up quickly and eventually the ball exploded; knocking Naruto on his ass. A slight grunt of pain escaped the blond as his back followed suit with his ass and he just laid there watching the countless pieces of rubber fall on him.

"Hee-hee" he started laughing "yes! I did it; one step closer now. YES!"

Sasuke and Sakura just starred at their blond teammate in complete disbelief about what he had just done; he had practically blown himself up and he was laughing about it. While there was no end to how weird Naruto could be, even this topped everything before today. At first they thought he had failed at whatever it was he was doing, but now they figured it had to be a part of the jutsu he was learning. The only question was; just what jutsu was it?

"Alright Naruto" Kakashi said in his usual monotone voice "you did it; now clean up the pieces so we can keep moving."

Naruto rolled over and picked up the small pieces. Dirt found its way underneath his fingernails as he carefully picked at the smaller pieces. The small pieces only caused his grin to grow as he picked them up off the ground; he had just gotten to this part of the jutsu yesterday and managed to get it. It might not be how he wanted to get it, but he still got it; now that he knew how much power needed to be built up he could work on getting it with only one hand. One of the pieces blew under a bush before he could grab it.

"Damn it" as he laid flat on the ground and reached for the piece up "aren't you cute?" he said as he reached further into the bush and pulled out a white rabbit.

Kakashi looked at the rabbit and immediately grew weary of his surroundings. It was almost the summer months, a thick white coat shouldn't be on a rabbit right now; it had to be raised indoors. The only problem was that they hadn't seen anyone around for several miles, so there was no reason for a pet rabbit to be out here. Someone else was among them, hidden in the forest that grew along the edge of the road; the Cyclops already had a feeling about who the target was.

"GET DOWN NOW!" he shouted as he heard something come flying towards the group.

Everyone immediately hit the ground when he finished shouting his order; just in time too, a massive sword came spinning over them and became imbedded in a tree on the other side of the road. Kakashi knew who the blade belonged to even before the owner appeared on it starring at the five with eyes that promised only a fight; Momochi Zabuza.

"I see the stories are true" Zabuza laughed with his deep voice "Copy-Cat Nin. While their failure was an insult, I gotta say that I'm glad they did" as he turned his gaze to the blond holding Haku's rabbit "it'll give me a bigger payout than I could ever hope."

"What the hell you looking at me for?" Naruto asked in a slight panic.

"Only the biggest payday ever;" with a dark chuckle "with the money I'll get from handing you in, I can easily achieve my goal."

"What…" the blonde said with disbelief.

"The bounty on your head is the largest I've ever seen;" as his eyes narrowed "I don't care that you're a kid," as he disappeared along with the sword he was standing on "I'm gonna hand you over!" as he reappeared over him ready to bring his sword down.

Naruto jumped out of the way just in the nick of time; Zabuza was mere inches from making a large gash across his back. Sasuke and Sakura quickly followed suit and went to protect the bridge builder in case anymore enemies showed up. Naruto rolled on the ground and recovered as fast as he could. The first thing he saw was his headband underneath Zabuza's foot; when he rolled it got caught on a root and was pulled off his forehead.

"Get your foot off my headband" Naruto ordered with a growl.

"Or else what?" with a chuckle.

The blonde's eyes narrowed as he made the hand seal for ox; he was going to get his headband back no matter what. He slammed both hands into the ground at his feet, and with a slight heave, he broke a large chunk of the ground up and was holding it over his head. Everyone just looked at the boy with wide eyes of disbelief of what they were seeing. Naruto had pretty much just picked up a boulder from the ground with little effort and was now holding it over his head with one arm. Zabuza watched as he was unable to speak from shock because of what he was seeing. The boy just threw the boulder he pulled out of the ground at him. The Demon of the Blood Mist sliced through the boulder that was thrown at him with ease, but saw that the brat that threw it was missing.

"Eat this!" he heard about him.

He looked up just in time to see a large number of Kage Buunshin coming at him; one of which had a blue sphere in the palm of his hand. Instinct took over him as he used his blade to block the incoming sphere and the numerous clones that followed it. When the sphere hit his blade, he heard it begin to cut its way through the metal as more and more weight was added on top of it. Something told him that if this kept up, that sphere thing was going to cut all the way through his blade; while that wasn't a problem thanks to the seal in the hilt, it was still annoying.

Naruto kept the pressure up as he pushed the tall rogue shinobi closer to the ground. His focus wasn't on landing a killing strike, but simply getting his headband back. He had worked hard to earn the symbol of a shinobi, and he wasn't going to let someone step on it like it was dirt. With a grunt Zabuza heaved Naruto off him and dispelled all the clones that had assaulted him. Naruto hit the ground near his teammates; as he got back up he lifted his headband and put it back where it belonged.

"All that for your headband?" Sakura asked.

"I worked too hard at the Academy to let someone step all over it" Naruto said as he finished tying the knot.

"You think that just taking some classes makes you a shinobi?" Zabuza laughed "what a joke! You're nothing more than little brats that probably don't even know about sex; what makes you think you know what being a real shinobi is like?"

Kakashi took advantage of the opening he saw by throwing kunai at the rogue shinobi. He should've taken advantage of the opening Naruto created when he attacked the tall man with the incomplete Rasengan. The fact that Naruto could begin to use the Rasengan showed that his chakra control had improved since they became a team, but he still had a ways to go. He was going to have to reflect on that later though; his opponent used a substitution jutsu and was now nowhere to be seen. This could be a bad thing; he knew that Zabuza was the master of the silent kill, which meant that if they didn't find him soon they could all be killed.

He scanned the area with his eye, hoping to see anything that could hint at the rogue-nin's location. His years of being ANBU had helped him learn how to track from a distance; looking for the smallest things like a blade of grass that didn't stand up right, or a freshly broken twig. His team was around Tazuna in their standard formation; he could see that Sasuke was contemplating using his Sharingan in order to fight the Legendary Swordsman of the Mist. While it was a good idea, it was a bad one as well; it would show Zabuza that he was an Uchiha and the rogue-nin might push the squad even harder than he originally planned.

"What's wrong Hatake?" Zabuza's voice said from what seemed like everywhere "have you been teaching these little snot nosed brats for so long you don't even realize I'm right behind you?"

Kakashi quickly whipped around with a kunai in hand and sliced Zabuza's throat, only to see that it was a water clone. The rogue-nin was toying with them and this couldn't go on forever. He was going to have to end this now if he expected to be able to take his team home alive; he wasn't going to fail them like he did Obito when he was a Chunin.

"I guess I have no choice" as he lifted his headband onto his forehead revealing his Sharingan eye "there you are" as he saw the former mist nin in the tree line near the water.

Zabuza charged at the Copy Cat Ninja with his blade ready to slice him in two; he made sure to keep his eyes closed to keep Hatake from reading his moves. That was just one flaw with the Sharingan he learned about; he's heard stories that say someone can fight against a Sharingan user as long as you didn't look them in the eyes. However, he couldn't do this since he's never fought against a Sharingan user before; nor does he plan to after he kills the legendary Copy Cat Ninja.

Kakashi threw a kunai at the rogue-nin and it landed right in his shoulder. Instead of blood flowing out of the wound, water seeped out before Zabuza exploded into a puddle of water. The Cop Cat Ninja suspected that would happen; after all, he was fighting the Demon of the Blood Mist.

"Nice try" he heard Zabuza say behind him before the man brought down his sword and sliced Kakashi in half "you really are a copy cat aren't you Hatake?" as the one he just sliced in half turned into water.

"Only when I need to be" as he sunk a kunai into Zabuza's kidney "what?" as his eyes went wide and the Zabuza he stabbed turned into water again.

Zabuza didn't say a word as he appeared in front of the Copy Cat Ninja and kicked him into the river. Once he had him there he trapped him in a water prison; he was worth more alive than dead. With Hatake stuck in his water prison, capturing the blonde brat would be easy; he made a water clone with his free hand and kept his focus so he can keep the Copy Cat Ninja out of the fight.

Naruto looked at the tall man and the clone he had made with a surprised look. He had just put Kakashi out of the fight in less than two minutes, which was something he wasn't expecting. The way that the rogue-nin fought showed that he was attacking to kill, something that he couldn't bring himself to do. There was only one way he could free Kakashi and beat Zabuza, but the memory of what happened the last time he did this often stung him.

"Take Tazuna and get out of here" Naruto said to Sasuke and Sakura as he took a step forward.

"What are you saying?" Sakura nearly shouted at him.

"Just like it sounds," without looking back to her "now do it!"

Even Shendu was curious about what the Hatchling was planning to sound so serious and in control. The last time he saw the boy like this was during a training session with his team. Kakashi wanted them to try and steal one of his books, but warned that it wasn't going to be easy; which it wasn't. Until Naruto put his foot down and told his plan to his teammates everything they tried failed miserably.

"We're not leaving you here alone Naruto!" Sasuke said.

"But I won't be alone;" as he looked at the ground "the last time this happened it was an accident and our classmates got hurt. So leave!"

Sakura's eyes widened as she realized what Naruto was talking about. It was a warm Monday morning and Sasuke had stayed home sick, the Friday before Iruka had hinted at the possibility of a pop quiz.

-Flashback; 4 years (Sakura first person pov)-

Everyone sat down in their seats as they walked into the class room. Everyone was talking about their weekend and what they did with their families or friends. Naruto was talking with me, Ino, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru and Choji about the trip he went on with Kyu and Anko to a waterfall where they had lunch and Anko showed him some chakra control techniques.

"It was a good thing I was wearing a swim suit" he laughed about how badly he failed to walk on water like Anko did.

Everyone in the group laughed about his misfortune on the trip as well; everyone except for Shino. Shino only nodded and said that we learn from our mistakes; he always did act more mature than everyone else, even some adults but that was just how his family is.

Iruka-sensei Shunshin into the class like always and announced the quiz in his usual energetic morning voice. On that day he did something different than going down the roll, he randomly picked names from the list. I had the unfortunate luck of being the first one up as well as the hardest hand seal for me at the time; rooster. I didn't spend any time studying that weekend and nearly forgot what I was supposed to do for the seal, but I managed to remember after taking some time to think. He continued to call students at random and a few failed. Eventually he got to Naruto, that's when things got weird.

"Alright Naruto," Iruka said to him "show me the tiger hand seal."

"That's easy!" Naruto said with a grin as he put his hands in the proper seal "tiger!"

Right then, I saw something wrong with Naruto; his eyes widened just before a bright light filled the room. When I could finally see again, there were _two_ Narutos in the room. One had a thinner face with what looked like dark circles starting to form around his eyes, and the other had more of a baby face than Choji had. The look on Iruka-sensei's face was similar to everyone else's; complete disbelief of what he was seeing.

"What are you lookin' at Scar-face?" the thin faced one said in a mean tone.

"You should treat Iruka-sensei with respect;" the baby faced one said "he is the sensei."

"Psh, whatever."

"My dad was right" I heard a student near the front say "he is a freak."

The baby faced Naruto nearly broke down into tears from the comment; which only caused many of the students to laugh at him. I remember the look on Hinata's face when she saw that Naruto finally crack and explode into tears; she looked like she wanted to comfort him, to say something for him but couldn't find the words, and it ate her up on the inside. The thin faced Naruto snapped his head towards the kid and I could see the anger in his eyes. He marched right up to the boy and picked him up by the shirt.

"You wanna say that to my face?" he shouted.

"Freak" the boy said.

That Naruto slugged him in the face with a right hook before jumping over the desk and continuing to punch the boy. It was a typical little kid fight; Naruto was sitting on the boy's chest, pinning him to the ground, and punching him in the face repeatedly. The students around him cheered the one-sided fight on as Iruka-sensei pushed everyone aside so he could grab the Naruto and pull him away from the student he was beating up. As Iruka-sensei dragged the Naruto back to the front of the classroom, more students started taunting him; this only enraged him more and made him break Iruka-sensei's grip on him so he could attack them. The baby faced Naruto quickly ran to stop the thin faced one.

"We should not be fighting;" he said as he grabbed his counterpart "it is most distasteful."

The thin faced Naruto swung at him and knocked him to the ground.

"Stop being such a weakling!" as he turned back to his original targets.

Luckily Naruto had brought in Shendu that day; the dragon plushy crawled out of the bag Naruto had brought him in and saw what was going on. It didn't take long for the dragon to tell Iruka-sensei how to make the two Narutos one again. I remember the look on Iruka-sensei's face as he subdued the thin faced Naruto with force and held him on the ground with one arm wrenched behind his back. It was a look that showed he was regretting having to do it, but it had to be done. The baby faced Naruto followed Shendu's orders and made the tiger seal again; there was another blinding light and when I could see again there was only one Naruto.

-End Flashback (third person pov)-

"Don't just stand there;" Naruto said "get out of here!"

Naruto didn't bother to look back before he made the hand seal.

"Tiger…" in a hesitate tone.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry this took so long. Serious writer's block, college, and work; I'll try to keep them coming though.

Xxxxxx

"Don't just stand there;" Naruto said "get out of here!"

Naruto didn't bother to look back before he made the hand seal.

"Tiger…" in a hesitate tone.

There was a blinding light as Naruto grit his teeth from the slight pain he felt while he was being split into two. It felt like he was peeling off an entire layer of skin from his body, but it burned internally. Everyone shielded their eyes to keep from going completely blind as a result of the light Naruto was giving off. As the light finally went away, Sasuke and Sakura saw two Narutos standing in front of them.

"Final-fuckin'-ly!" one shouted "it's been too fuckin' long being trapped with that loser."

"Why must you be so mean?" the other asked while sounding like he was going to cry.

The dark Naruto turned to say something back, but saw that their teammates hadn't left.

"I thought you three were told to get the fuck outa here" he said bluntly.

Sasuke only starred in disbelief at what he was seeing; Naruto had split himself into two parts and they were acting like complete opposites. He had never seen the blonde use this ability; was it a kekkei genkai? If it was, why hadn't he use it before now; he had sparred against the blonde several times and the boy never used this ability.

"What the hell are you starring at duck-ass?"

The Uchiha nearly snapped when he heard what the thin faced Naruto called him; there was nothing wrong with how he had his hair styled.

"You should leave now" the baby faced Naruto said "it would hurt me to see my friends get harmed."

"You're willing to fight?" Sakura asked in shock "last time this happened you did everything you could to not fight."

"Hatake-sensei needs our help;" as he looked at his sensei "as much as it goes against my beliefs on fighting, I must protect him by fighting this man."

He believed that violence was not needed in any way, shape, or form; but seeing his sensei being held hostage by someone so mean, he had to do something. The Copy Cat Ninja has been a friend of his for as long as he can remember, and was like an Uncle to him; there was no way he'd let someone he looked at as family be hurt.

"Fuck-yea! Let's cut the chit-chat and start kicking this eyebrowless freak's ass!" the dark Naruto said with a smile on his face.

Knowing that his lighter half was willing to fight meant that he wouldn't have to worry about him stepping in to try to stop him from fighting. Last time he was free, the weakling had tried to stop him from fighting three times before Scar-face pinned him to the ground. He made a note to show their old sensei what it felt like having your arm wrenched behind your back; it wasn't fun at all.

"TO HELL WITH THE BOUNTY!" Zabuza shouted in anger "I'M GONNA KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!"

-Kyuubi-

The former Queen of Demons sat in the dining room by herself for the first time since Dio and her first settled down near Konoha over five centuries ago. To be honest with herself, she absolutely hated the feeling of being in a house all by herself; it reminded her too much of when Dio was killed and Naruto was kidnapped by that snake. The empty feeling that lingered around her and refused to let go ate at her and it was slowly driving her mad; she had to find some way to make it let go of her. It was way too early for her to go to a bar, Rin was working at the hospital, Itachi was dealing with clan things, Anko was in a meeting with the Hokage about the Chunin Exams that were coming up in the next month; there was nothing to do. She had to find something to do before she went mad.

She rose from her chair, grabbed her keys, and left the house; she didn't have a plan, she just had to get out of the house and away from the emptiness. The emptiness would've consumed her, if it didn't drive her insane first, had she stayed in the house much longer. She was so used to having someone in the house to occupy her that she couldn't bare the lack of company anymore. It was a feeling she had come to hate not long after being sealed into her first container; just another reminder that her anger needs to be better controlled.

She walked down the streets of Konoha while she remembered her hyper active little brother. He'd spend every ounce of energy he had pulling pranks on the other Bijuu and the eight demon sorcerers, training with Shendu, and helping humans with their problems, regardless of how petty they seemed. The only Bijuu he ever seemed to have a problem with was Shukaku, which was easy to see why; the perverted raccoon often molested females regardless of who was around.

The little fox got into a fight with the raccoon a few times, but the first one was the scariest thing she had ever witnessed. At first Dio was doing fine, going toe to toe with the former monk. Only she knew that his stamina wasn't as high as the raccoon's and he slowly started getting thrashed. That was always one of Dio's major weak points when fighting; if he couldn't finish the fight quickly he'd start losing badly. Shukaku used his sand to toy with Dio until he was finally about to kill him; when she saw the sand begin to wrap around her little brother's legs, she knew what was going to happen. Just before the sand completely engulfed Dio, Shendu blasted the sand with fire and turned it to glass before he appeared in front of the raccoon and backhanded him across the field they were battling in. That is what first got her attention drawn to the dragon.

"May I help you?" she heard, snapping her out of her memories.

Her walk had taken her to the Hyuga Compound. She was here, so she might as well.

"Is Hiashi-san available?" she asked the branch member.

"I will see if Hiashi-_sama_ wishes to see you" as he walked off.

Kyuubi only shook her head; she only ever called one person sama, and it will remain that way. While she was aware of how uptight the Hyuga clan was about addressing the clan head properly, she wasn't a Hyuga or apart of any clan. To her Hiashi was just the teammate of her former vessel and would only call him san. The branch member came back and led her to Hiashi's office; the walls were plain white with the occasional picture hung up, there were small tables against the wall with candles on them, and the windows were clean and didn't have curtains on them. She was led to a large oak door that was painted white and had the Hyuga clan symbol on it; the former Queen of Demons knocked on the door.

"Enter" she heard Hiashi say.

She slid the door open and looked at the large space that was his office. A large desk sat at the far end with Hiashi behind it finishing up paperwork, a filing cabinet in the left corner, and a plant in the right corner. The Hyuga that was once her vessel's teammate looked far older than he really was; the stress from putting up with clan head responsibilities had taken its toll on him.

"Is there something I can help you with Kyu-san?" in his usual serious tone.

He never did call her Uzumaki, but he also knew that she wasn't. Kushina had explained everything that happened on the night Naruto was born; it pained him to know that there was nothing he could do to save his first love.

"I'm worried about Naru-kun;" she said as she rubbed her arm.

"I'm not the one you should be talking with about that" as he turned his attention back to his paperwork.

"You… you're the only one I could think of to talk to;" those words surprised the Hyuga "you are the only one that I can speak with that might be able to help me cope with my uncertainty."

Hiashi normally would've sighed in annoyance, but he didn't; his eyes held a look that showed a certain concern as he set the paper in his hand down. No matter how much he wanted to tell the woman to leave, he couldn't bring himself to do it; especially not when she looks like Kushina, only with whiskers. With a simple hand gesture he asked her to sit.

"Hinata hasn't been sent on a mission outside of the village yet;" Hiashi said "nor do I expect her to be allowed to with how weak she is. However, I do feel slight concern for her when she goes on missions. Her overly gentle nature could be the cause of her death, even though I have attempted to explain this to her many times she fails to acknowledge the fact. Unlike Hinata, Uzumaki has shown he will fight without hesitation and will do what must be done should the need arise. He rushes into things without thinking and has no control of his temper…"

"Careful;" she warned in a growl.

"What I am trying to say;" as he barely acknowledged the threat "while he might lose his composure over small things, his abilities are surprising. His concern for others is like his mother's and he will most likely get stronger so he can protect them. Your concern is normal for a parental figure, Hinata's mother was the same way when Hinata began training with the Gentle Fist, but you should have faith in his abilities and trust that he won't do anything too idiotic."

Kyuubi digested his words and knew that they were true. Even then, it wasn't something she could just do; she had raised Naruto on her own since the day he was born. She couldn't just shut off her emotions like the Hyuga and Uchiha could; too much had happened in the past for her to do that. Besides, she viewed shutting out emotions as the act of a coward.

"Thank you;" as she got up "and just so you know" catching Hiashi's full attention "regardless of what the rest of the village may think. I can still see you have a heart in you;" as she left the office.

"Thank you;" he said in a soft tone as the door closed and he picked up the picture of his deceased wife that was on his desk.

The former Queen of Demons walked out of the compound feeling much better than when she went in; which caused several Hyuga members to mutter amongst themselves. She simply ignored it and continued home; she had nothing to worry about, Naruto was in safe hands.

-Naruto-

The thin faced Naruto cursed as he hit the ground and rolled before catching himself. This was the fourth time he had gotten thrown like that, and it wasn't any easier than the first time. His opponent was actually trying to kill him, which was something he wasn't used to; every fight he's been in when he was merged with his lighter half wasn't a fight for life, it was just a fight to see where he stood with his skills. Fighting for his life, the life of his sensei, and the life of his teammates was different; it wasn't something that he could just try again. No, if he lost the fight he would lose his life; it was that simple.

He quickly got up and saw that his lighter half was doing better than he was against the water clone that the bandaged man summoned. His lighter half was dodging the large blade that was being swung at him and getting close to being able to hit the man. The main thing he noticed was that his softer self fought differently; every punch/kick that he threw wasn't aimed at a spot that would cause permanent damage if it hit. Just one more thing he didn't like about his 'weaker' half; even though he knew his opponent was a water clone, he wouldn't use any attack that could kill.

He quickly reached into his jacket and retrieved a scroll from one of the pockets. While he was about to copy one of Tenten's attacks, it should be enough to get the water clone to disperse so they can focus on the real Zabuza.

"Rooster;" he called out as he jumped into the air, only to come crashing back down "ow! What the fuck?"

Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna sweatdropped at the sight; Naruto was just impossible to understand.

"Just what the fuck is goin' on?" as he quickly pulled off his jacket and tried to see if the kanji had even changed into an actual rooster "where is that damn thing?" trying to pull his skin so he might be able to catch a glimpse of the rooster "where the fuck did it go?" as he failed to find it.

Something weird was going on; he couldn't think of anything that would cause a talisman to just disappear. It didn't make any sense to him for it to just disappear like that. After deciding to worry about it later, he rushed back to fight the water clone that was fighting his other half. The baby faced Naruto barely dodged the blade that was coming towards his head and retaliated with a kick to the owner's gut. He was slowly wearing himself out and that wasn't a good thing; he had to think of a way to end this fight, or at least free Kakashi so he could handle the large man.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw his other half rushing in, and further back he saw Sasuke preparing a Gōkakyū no Jutsu. This was going to work if they could do it right. He pulled out three kunai and threw them at the water clone, and, as he had hoped, the clone jumped to the side out of the path. From there his dark counterpart already had a few kunai of his own ready to go, as soon as he saw Zabuza dodge the first three that were thrown at him he let them fly. The Zabuza clone barely dodged the kunai in time and just missed taking one to the arm; water clones weren't too different from a Kage Buunshin, all they could take was one good hit.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu" Sasuke shouted as he launched a fire ball at the clone and hit it center mass.

The clone exploded into a cloud of steam and the two Narutos turned their attention to the real Zabuza. It was time to free Kakashi and get him to end this fight; they knew that two Genin had no chance of defeating a rogue Jonin shinobi, but Kakashi, former ANBU, sure as hell did. The baby faced Naruto pulled out a scroll, put a little chakra into it and retrieved a Fuma shuriken; his dark counterpart followed suit. They had a plan that was bound to work.

The baby faced Naruto opened his weapon and then threw it at the large man; who only laughed as he easily snatched it out of the air. Before he could mock him though, the dark Naruto threw his own at him. Now Zabuza didn't have a free hand to use, so unless he wanted to lose his arm he was going to have to move away from the sphere that he had Kakashi trapped in. Sakura and Sasuke became hopeful, up until the rogue mist shinobi threw the Fuma shuriken in his hand right at the incoming one. The two weapons collided in midair and the one that the thin faced Naruto threw was sent up into the air.

"SURPRISE COCK-FAG!" they heard as the Fuma shuriken the darker Naruto threw exploded into smoke and showed the real one "PIG!" as he made the hand seal.

Two yellow beams came from his eyes and were going straight for the rogue shinobi's chest. No one but Naruto knew what would happen if the beams connected with their target. Now Zabuza had only two options; get hit, or move. Either one would result in Kakashi's release, but he preferred to keep from getting hit by the two beams. He pulled his arm out of the water sphere and used Taijutsu to ensure he was completely out of the way. When the beams hit the water, steam rose up and he quickly became thankful he did move; those beams seemed to be nothing but raw heat that was enough to turn cold water into steam.

"You used the steam that my water clone was turned into as cover;" Zabuza deduced "then turned into the Fuma shuriken."

"And that's all I needed jack ass!"

"Thanks for freeing me Naruto," Kakashi said as he stood up and cracked his neck "now go wait by the others; this is going to get dangerous."

The Copy-Cat Nin looked at Zabuza with his Sharingan eye. Sure it was a sneak attack that got him caught, but he's a shinobi and knows better than to make boasts that would make it sound unfair. In a real fight, anything goes; if you need an opening, you make one even if it means literally hitting below the belt. Zabuza avoided looking at the Sharingan directly; he still didn't want to risk knowing if the stories about it were true.

"Shall we continue?" he asked in a calm tone.

"Damn right;" the rogue ninja chuckled "the only one in your squad that doesn't have a bounty on their head is that useless pink haired brat."

Kakashi vanished with Gai like speed, reappeared behind Zabuza, with a kunai in hand, and went to slash at his back. The rogue shinobi used his large sword to block the kunai and retaliate by angling it just so to try to slice the man's leg off; only he missed when Kakashi jumped over the blade. The two combatants put some distance between each other and started going through a large number of hand seals faster than most could keep up with; to those observing it would've only looked like ten but in reality it was forty.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu;" they called out.

The water around them began to move and lift up out of the river they were standing on. Two dragon heads rose out of the water and rushed towards each other, swirling upwards around one another when they met, and then bit each other before they came crashing down. The four that were watching this ordeal were in awe at the way the dragons looked. Both Narutos though, while in awe, felt something primal beginning to rise as their pupils slowly started to turn into slits. The baby faced Naruto was afraid that if it weren't for the dragons crashing back into the water and Sakura saying how powerful the jutsu was, something very weird would've happened that could've gotten someone hurt. Zabuza was quickly annoyed that his opponent was able to counter his attack without looking in his eyes. Just how good was this guy?

"I trained a member of the Uchiha clan;" Kakashi said "that should let you know what I'm capable of."

Zabuza's eyes widened; Kakashi had just read his mind! That was impossible; it should be impossible. He couldn't figure out what was going on; then he saw Kakashi almost done with hand seals and he had no time to counter.

"Suiton: Daibaku no Jutsu" Kakashi said.

The water behind Kakashi arched up and made a complete circle before filling up and sending a pillar of water at Zabuza faster than he could blink. He was smashed by the water and sent into a tree, causing it to crack from the pressure. His ribs were cracked, shoulder dislocated because of how he hit the tree, and probably had his skull fractured. Over all, not pleasant in the least bit.

"The moment you began to question what the Sharingan was truly capable of;" Kakashi said as he drew a kunai "that is when you lost."

Before Kakashi could throw his kunai, several senbon found their way into Zabuza's neck, chest, shoulder and thigh. Zabuza let out a grunt just before a hunter nin appeared in front of him and stabbed him in the chest with another senbon. Everyone but Kakashi was shocked at what had just happened; Zabuza was killed so easily when they could barely touch him.

"Forgive me for not assisting earlier;" the hunter nin said to them as she turned to face them "but I wished to see just what Hatake-san was capable of. This man was wanted for the attempted murder of the Mizukage and holds secrets in his body;" as she picked up Zabuza "I must dispose of him quickly."

With that, the hunter nin disappeared just as fast as she appeared.

"We'll be seeing that bitch again;" the dark Naruto said as he finally got out of the water.

"Why do you say that?" Sakura asked.

"The hunter nin didn't hit any vital spots;" the baby face Naruto explained "she aimed right next to them. This would put anyone into a death like state. If she could hit those spots, then her aim is better than Ten-chan's."

He made sure to omit that from his story when he got back to Konoha. If Tenten found out that he thought someone had better aim than her, she'd be pretty upset and make sure to remind him that she did teach him how to throw weapons with great accuracy.

"He wasn't breathing you dobe!" Sasuke snapped.

"Listen duck ass for brains;" the dark Naruto snapped back "do you have a sibling that was a member of the hunter nin unit of ANBU? I didn't fucking think so; when a hunter nin makes a kill they make sure the body is destroyed immediately. Besides, the woman didn't address the Mizukage as 'sama' like a real shinobi of Kiri would do. That tells me that she's working with Zabuza. Maybe if you'd get that duck ass out of yer head you'd be able to think properly."

"WHAT WAS THAT?" as he got in the darker Naruto's face.

"Enough you two;" Kakashi said as he pushed the two apart "we have enough to worry about. Naruto… both of you need to do whatever it is that you need to do so we have only one of you."

While he thought this was indeed odd, even for Naruto, it was a bit much. He was going to have to talk with Shendu later so he could figure out just what Naruto did to cause this phenomenon.

"Fat chance;" the darker one said with a smug grin "I ain't gonna do that. I'm finally separated from that weakling and all I get is one fight and you expect me to just roll over so we can just merge again. HA; yer crazier than Uncle Ero-Sanin!"

"Hatchling;" Shendu said from next to Sakura "if you don't merge into just one," as his beady eyes narrowed and shadowed over "I will force you to."

Shendu had figured out that he could leave and return to the plushy body he was in whenever he wished. He had told the blond boy about it and knew that it would come in handy should this ever happen. The plan was to leave the plushy body, takeover the darker Naruto, and force the two to merge. There were only two foreseeable problems with that though; if Shendu didn't leave Naruto's body at the right time, it could result in either Naruto still having the dual personalities or Shendu being trapped in Naruto's body.

"Fine;" the dark Naruto grumbled as he walked over to his lighter counterpart.

The two made the Tiger hand seal together, both Narutos making half of it with their respective hand together and there was a bright light. When the light finally disappeared, there was the one and only Naruto standing where the two had once been. Naruto grabbed his head like he had a headache; which he did. The memories from both himselves flooded him and it was hard to make sense of everything when it hit him that fast; seeing the same event from two angles was difficult to decipher.

"Now then;" Kakashi said as he looked back at his squad and lowered his headband so it hid his Sharingan "let's keep moving."

-?-

Seven figures stood around a large crystal gourd that held a fire within it. Hsi-Wu, an odd bat like gremlin looking demon that has massive bat wings spreading from his back and a reptilian tail was all black with glowing red eyes, had summoned his brothers and sisters to the gourd. Dai-Gui, a humongous Minotaur like demon that had a green face and horns, stood right next to the gourd looking at it with a bored look. Xiao-Fung, a lavender skinned frog demon that had golden plates over his brows, was sitting and observing the gourd with slight interest. Bai-Tza, a blue mermaid-like demon that had tentacles for hair that went past her shoulders and had one tentacle that was cut off at her jaw line, observed the crystal gourd carefully. Tso-Lan, a light blue skinned demon that had that looked like an anteater's and dressed in a cross of a Count Dracula and Korean nobility outfit that was red, had his two smaller hand rubbing against each other in a manner that showed he was in deep thought. Tchang-Zu, a blue skinned reptilian-ogre demon that wore dark blue Greco-Roman armor, stood behind his brothers and smaller sister curious as to why His-Wu called them here. Po-Kong, a green skinned demon that had yellow mounds that covered parts of her body and had her hair in a Japanese style bun and is the largest/fattest of the demons, sat behind Tchang-Zu trying to hold her hunger so she could find out why they were called here.

"What is the reason you summoned us here Hsi-Wu?" Tso-Lan asked as he floated in midair.

"The Fire Chi;" the gremlin said as he walked behind the gourd.

He grabbed the sides of the gourd with his claw like hands and tried to figure out why it wasn't doing like it was earlier.

"HA;" Dai-Gui laughed "that hasn't done anything for the past century."

The Minotaur started to leave, followed by Tchang-Zu and Po-Kong.

"Bu…but it was bending around and looked like it was trying to escape…" trying to keep his siblings from leaving "as if something was calling for it. It was trying to go somewhere."

"Don't be ridiculous;" Xiao-Fung said as he hopped away too "Shendu created that gourd to keep the Fire Chi in it until his successor came to the world. Drago has yet to prove he is Shendu's successor so the Fire Chi has no reason to act like you claim."

"This isn't the first time this has happened though;" Bai-Tza said "it did the same thing nearly twelve years ago during the fall season. Then again eight years ago during the spring season;" this caught everyone's attention "Shendu never said that his son would be his successor. Remember, the Fire Chi is the only chi that is semi-sentient and chooses its own successor."

"It's true;" Tso-Lan said "Shendu even admitted that he himself was lucky to have been given the Fire Chi."

"It might be best to keep this from Drago until we know for sure;" Po-Kong said.

Xxxx

Short chapter I know; sorry, but this seemed like a good spot to stop it.


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto and his squad finally boarded a small ferry boat that would take them across the small section of sea that was between them and the town they were going to. It had been only a half hour trip, which made Kakashi worry; if Zabuza was this close to the village, then just how far was the man willing to go to kill Tazuna? During his fight with the rogue Jonin, he learned that Zabuza didn't want to target anyone he didn't need too but he wasn't above it; that much he learned when the former Kiri shinobi tried to kill Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. If he was willing to target three Genin that haven't even left the village before, would he use Tazuna's family as hostages to get to the bridge builder?

Then there was also that woman that was posing as a hunter-nin that Naruto believed was working with Zabuza. If that were the truth, then why didn't the woman just kill them when they weren't expecting it? Senbon were small and nearly impossible to hear coming because of their small and thin shape. It was the perfect assassination weapon; so why not use them when she saw Zabuza was starting to lose? Perhaps Naruto was right in his assessment of the woman; at least when you put all the bits Naruto stated together. She didn't address the Mizukage as sama; which is how every special operations shinobi addressed their Kage. Her accuracy was far better than Tenten's, who had broken records in throwing weapons that had been there since he himself was in the academy, and she aimed specifically for the spots that would mimic death, but not cause it; this would allow her to take Zabuza's unconscious body back to their hideout so he could heal and come back later.

"What's on your mind Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked him finally snapping him out of his thoughts.

Kakashi had been quiet ever since they left where they fought Zabuza; it was like he was in deep thought and it worried her.

"You three need to train a lot more for the next few days;" he said bluntly as he kept his gaze on the horizon "it will take Zabuza one week to fully recover from his injuries. That's how long I have to get you three in ready for whatever Zabuza might have planned."

He knew how long it was going to take to recover from the injuries the rogue mist nin had taken; it took him just as long to recover from similar injuries and that was with a good medic at hand. He wasn't sure what the woman's skill was with medical jutsu or knowledge of herbs that help the healing process. But if she was even remotely as good as Rin, then she could have him up and moving at seventy five percent in six days at best; if she wasn't that good, then it would take Zabuza at least ten days to recover to the point where he might be able to try his assassination again. Of course, this was just based off of not knowing if Zabuza had a shinobi trained as a medic in his ranks somewhere. Rogue shinobi typically kept to themselves, rarely ever teaming up with anyone; even if they did though, the number of people in that group would be few to prevent detection.

"Your main concern should be Gato;" Tazuna said "by now he's probably heard about Zabuza's failure to kill me and will try something else."

Since Gato had hired a rogue shinobi, they couldn't be sure about what else the man had in store for them in the near future. For all they know it could be a bomb attached to the underside of the construction site; which he was at practically every day. No matter what it was though, it most likely wasn't going to be pleasant in the least bit.

"Yes," Kakashi agreed "things are going to get a little crazy for a while; at least until we see Zabuza again. But until that time;" as he saw land "we'll keep full time watch over you and your family. If it's just more low life thugs though," as they pulled up to the dock "we should worry."

"Why;" Sasuke asked.

"Because if he sends several low life bandits that can't use jutsu," Kakashi explained "that's what we'll get used to fighting. If that happens, we'll probably be ill prepared to fight another rogue shinobi. If he sends a shinobi at us soon though; we won't be ready to fight against them either since you guys' skills aren't even at Chunin level yet. Like I said before, you three need a lot of training over the next few days."

Naruto nodded, showing he was willing to put everything he had into training so he would be ready for whatever this Gato guy could throw at them. He knew he needed to improve his skills; the fact that he had to use the tiger talisman to fight Zabuza was all the proof he needed. Shendu had explained to him why his darker half couldn't use the rooster talisman; he didn't have it. When Naruto split himself in half, he also split the talismans that were embedded in his body between the two at random; so the fact that his darker half was able to use the pig talisman was just dumb luck.

If he would've been able to make a proper Rasengan instead of having to use both his hands to make an imperfect one, then maybe he could've ended the fight when it started. But there was no point in beating himself up over it right now; Zabuza was still out there and he had to get stronger to beat him. His first task was to learn how to better control his chakra; if he could do that then perfecting the Rasengan would be that much easier in the long run for him. There was one problem in perfecting the Rasengan though, he still had no idea how to do the final step; Jiraiya had shown him, but it didn't make any sense. It was just a normal balloon that sat in his perverted uncle's hand.

Sasuke kept his usual scowl but knew Kakashi was right. While his chakra control was good, it wasn't at the level he wanted it to be at; which was high Chunin for now. Kakashi had already told him that he was using too much chakra for his fire affinity jutsu and that's why he kept getting burns on his hands and lips when he preformed them. If he could get better at controlling his chakra, then he wouldn't take any injuries from his own jutsu; which could make all the difference in a real fight.

There was also the teamwork aspect that he was sure that Kakashi was going to have them work on. The only problem with that was that since they were way out here in Wave Country, he wasn't sure how his sensei was planning on training them with that. Sure he could have them go at him and have them retrieve a bell again, but that could cause more harm than good; even more so since they didn't have a real medic out here should someone accidently get hurt.

Sakura wasn't sure what to think about having to train in the new environment. Sure she was a kunoichi now and had to get used to fighting in different settings, but the closest they've ever really come to a change of scenery was going from forest to riverbed at their training ground. Besides, her chakra reserves were practically nonexistent compared to Naruto's and Sasuke's; she would need to train harder than she did back home if she expected to increase her reserves. Regardless though, as long as Naruto and Sasuke were going to put the effort in then so would she; they were a team and if one of them didn't give it their all, then the entire team suffered.

"There's some woods behind my place you guys can use to train;" Tazuna said.

"That's perfect for what I have in mind for them;" Kakashi said as they entered the run down town.

The three Genin looked at the poor condition of the buildings that they walked past and couldn't believe that there was actually a place that was in this poor of living conditions. There were men setting next to walls that were thin and looked like they were trying to save as much energy as they could so they wouldn't get any hungrier than they already were. There were small kids in stores looking at the food in them like they were strongly debating on stealing so they could eat for the day. All said and done, this place was a nightmare.

"Get back here brat!" they heard coming from a store as a kid ran out with a small handful of food.

Naruto grabbed the kid and stopped him, but it wasn't for the reason that the store owner was hopping. Instead of just making the kid return the food he had just stolen; he looked at the store owner.

"How much is the food worth?" he asked.

"Twenty three hundred yen;" the owner said "it doesn't matter if you can pay it or not, that brat's a thief."

Naruto pulled out his frog money holder and pulled out the necessary amount with a little extra.

"Here's twenty five hundred;" as he handed the money to the store owner "the extra is for the inconvenience."

The store owner didn't say anything else as he took the money and went back into his store. The boy thanked Naruto and left to go to his family. His teammates looked at him with a confused look while Kakashi and Tazuna couldn't help but to be amazed at the act. It was unusual for anyone to do something like that; let alone someone his age. But it was Naruto so Kakashi wasn't too surprised by the act.

"Why'd you do that?" Sakura asked.

"Because he wasn't stealing the food just to be stealing;" Naruto said "we were that age once too. I remember sneaking out of a store with a candy bar once because Ki-chan wouldn't let me get it earlier;" as he looked at his friends "did you see how thin he was?" in a sad tone "he looked like if you just bumped him to the ground he might break a bone. He was trying to steal that food so he could survive, and possibly feed any siblings he has."

Sakura knew what it was like to take something from a store too. When she was younger, before she officially met Ino, she had taken a flower from the blonde girl's family floral shop. After she had met Ino, she felt really bad about doing it and apologized to her and her family for doing it the year before. She had thought that would make Ino so upset that she wouldn't want anything to do with her, but her blonde friend forgave her and things have been fine ever since.

They continued their trip to Tazuna's house in silence. The only thing that ever broke it was when Tazuna gave them a heads up as they were approaching the turns they needed to take. When they finally arrived, they were surprised at how nice the house was in comparison to the others they had passed; then again, Tazuna was a carpenter. The porch was covered, the windows were centered in the wall and held in place by well kept wood, and everything was clean. The bridge builder led his protection into the house and they saw a small table in the center of the kitchen, a respectable size stove against the wall, and a sink to do dishes in.

"I know it's not much," Tazuna said as he set his bag down "but it's home. Tsunami;" he called out.

A woman that looked to be in her late twenties can out of the living room. She had black hair that reached down to just below her shoulders, gentle onyx colored eyes, and was wearing a pink shirt and black pants that stopped midway through her calf.

"Back already;" she said with a smile "I'm glad you made it safely. I'll start making dinner soon;" as she disappeared back into the living room.

"Don't tell her about the guy that attacked us;" Tazuna asked in a low voice "she worries enough about Inari."

"You're the client;" Kakashi said "we won't tell her anything unless you want her to know. We'll be right out back if you need us;" as he led his students out of the house.

The three Genin only starred in amazement at the sight of the water, which was visible through the somewhat thick woods that were behind the house. The sunlight was being bent off the ripples in the sea and looked like gems reflecting the light; it made everything seem so peaceful. It was in that moment, that Naruto swore to protect the peace he felt because of the spectacular view. Sakura was just as lost in the beauty of the sea as Naruto; it made her question why anyone would want to make these people so miserable that they couldn't enjoy the sight. Sasuke, while entranced by the sight, mainly because he had never seen the sea before, knew that it was just another sight.

Of course, their reactions didn't go unnoticed by their mentor. He could see that Naruto's resolve hardened when he saw the beauty that nature created; the boy always did harden his resolve when he found something to fight for. When his blonde hardened his resolve, he always pushed himself during training; perhaps this would help everyone in his team. While Sakura put her best effort into training, it sometimes wasn't enough to have any noticeable results for a while; whereas Naruto and Sasuke showed results the next day. If Naruto was going to be pushing himself even harder, then that meant that Sakura was going to do everything she could to keep up with him and Sasuke.

"We'll start with improving your chakra control;" the cyclops said snapping his students out of the gaze "since we've already covered the tree walking exercise, I'll teach you the water walking exercise" as he walked to the sea.

He focused chakra into the soles of his shoes and walked out on the water. When he got out twenty feet past the end of the dock he stopped, turned around and looked at his students.

"Your goal is to make it to this point;" as he made three Kage Buunshin and walked back "there is one Kage Buunshin for each of you. When you make it to that point, stab the clone and walk back;" as he stepped on the shore he made three more "and then stab one here on the shore. Each time you fail you must start completely over; we're only going to be doing this during the day to keep you guys from getting caught in an undertow."

Naruto immediately focused chakra into his shoes and started to run out towards the first clone. He got about ten feet away from the shore before he crashed through the water and was thigh deep in the sea. Before he could grumble to himself, a crab grabbed hold of his big toe and let out a yelp of pain as he tried to pull the shelled creature off his foot; only causing it to tighten its grip. His team sighed in embarrassment as the blond hopped back to the shore and finally got the crab to let go before throwing the sea creature back into the sea.

"Walking on water is harder than just running up a tree Naruto;" Kakashi said "the water is constantly moving. This makes ripples on the surface. If you can't control your chakra properly and immediately adjust how much you're using, you'll break the surface tension and fall in. And remember that this is a water _walking_ exercise; not a water running exercise. Even if you would've made it to my Kage Buunshin, it would've defended itself until it told you to do it again only walking."

"Alright, alright;" the blond said as he took his jacket off "I get it. Could you take this inside for me?" holding the jacket out to Kakashi.

The silver haired Jonin nodded as he took the jacket inside. He heard the sound of water splashing just before he heard the blond swear; a chuckle escaped him as he remembered when his team first learned how to walk on water. Obito and Rin weren't very good at controlling their chakra at the time and it showed.

Naruto looked at his teammates and saw that Sasuke had already taken his shirt off as he walked out on the water; the raven haired boy made it further than he did on his first try. The Uchiha had a small tick mark on his forehead as he walked back to the shore and got ready to try again. When his eyes moved to Sakura, he noticed that she had taken off her usual top and was wearing a pink sports bra in its place. The pink haired Genin made it half way down the dock before she fell into the water.

They continued for the next hour; none of them had gotten to the clone they were supposed to so they could make the trip back. The trio was completely soaked with salt water and had sand clinging to them. Kakashi had come back out and told them that it was time to call it a night; Naruto tried to protest, but the silver haired man wasn't going to have any of it. When they entered the house they could smell the baking salmon in the small oven that was underneath the stove.

"That smells delicious;" Naruto said as he took off his sandals.

"Thank you;" Tsunami said as she poured the rice into the boiling water "we have twenty minutes before it will be ready. Why don't you three take quick showers?"

"Na," Naruto said as he started to sit down at the table "I'm just gonna go back outside to train some more after dinner."

Tazuna's eyes widened a little with fear; that boy just made a grave mistake. The blond soon found that out when he heard a spoon tapping the edge of the stove and she looked at him with a slight glare that put fear into everyone in the room.

"I said;" in a tone that hinted at how serious she was as she continued to tap her spoon on the stove top and glared at him from the corner of her eye "'why don't you go shower before dinner?'."

Naruto gulped in fear; he heard Kiba tell him about times when his mom would 'suggest' something, like a bath, and if he said he'd do it later he'd end up facing her wrath after she 'suggested' it again when she was holding a newspaper and he declined again. While he laughed his ass off at his friend, he now knew the fear that the pup felt when he tried to put a 'suggestion' from the head woman of the household.

"HAI" as he scrambled comically to get out of the kitchen and headed towards the bathroom; he made sure to grab his jacket on the way so he had clothes to put on.

"I'm glad he understands;" she said with a smile as she checked on the salmon.

Kakashi had a look of fear in his eye as he rubbed his hand remembering her 'warning' about reading the Ichi Icha series in her house. She had used that same spoon to smack his hand when he walked in the house reading the newer volume so he could hang up Naruto's jacket. The frightening woman said that she wouldn't tolerate smut in her home and gave him one chance to put the book in a place where she wouldn't see it; needless to say, it was quickly put into his supply pouch and isn't going to make another appearance for a while.

Five minutes later Naruto came out of the bathroom he went into and was pulling his shirt down; little to his knowledge, pretty much everyone in the dining room saw the dog shaped 'tattoo' on his abdomen, the only one that didn't see was Tsunami who was putting the finishing touches on dinner.

"When'd you get a tattoo Naruto?" Sakura asked.

Naruto froze in his tracks when his female teammate asked that question; he had thought he still had something hiding him when he pulled the shirt down. He remembered when Hinata first asked him about the markings on his body; while it seemed to be an innocent question to the lavender eyed heiress, it pained him to know she found out about why he was given disgustful looks. He had no idea himself when the 'tattoos' were put on him, but when he started hiding them most of the looks went away; sure there was still a lot of people that gave him that glare, but he knew what areas to avoid.

"I don't know;" he answered as he pulled out his copy of _The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi_.

"How do you not know when you got a tattoo?" Sasuke asked with a tone that was practically calling Naruto an idiot.

"I SAID I DON'T KNOW!" the blonde shouted at Sasuke as he nearly slammed his book on the table.

Everyone at the table had wide eyes because of Naruto's outburst. They had never seen him get like this; sure he had a temper at times, but it never got to him like it just did.

"You need to calm down Naruto;" Kakashi said as he put a hand on the boy's shoulder "we have enough to deal with without any in-fighting going on. Why don't you go shower now Sakura?"

The pink haired girl nodded and went to the bathroom; Sasuke just shook his head knowing that she'd take forever. Sasuke looked over to Naruto, who was now reading his novel, with investigating eyes. Naruto was a few months younger than him and hadn't left the village before this mission, yet he had a bounty on his head that was large enough to get the attention of a rogue shinobi. Something was going on that he wasn't being told about, and it was irritating him.

-Haku-

The masculine looking woman had just finished bandaging up Zabuza when Gato came storming into their hide out. She knew the fat slob came in an attempt to criticize her master. While that was going to be hard to do since Zabuza was still out cold, she feared that the shipping industry owner would have his goons try to take advantage of Zabuza's weakened state. She could easily kill everyone in the room, but she knew that Zabuza needed the money the fat man had promised so the swordsman could have his dream come true. Kill the Mizukage so he could finally return home; that was Zabuza's dream. The only way that her master could do that was to gather a large sum of money so he could hire the best rogue shinobi to help him. Zabuza had told her last time he was sold out by someone amongst his ranks when he first tried to kill the genocidal Kage.

"Wake that worthless piece of shit up;" Gato ordered his goons.

Haku quickly halted their attempt to go near the large man by throwing a senbon needle in each of their feet; right on the nerve that ran between the metatarsals. They all screamed out in pain as they tried to lift their feet off the floor to hold them, only to discover that they were pinned to the floor. The woman artfully knocked each of the men from the floor and through the glass windows that were on the walls. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the fat business man raising his hand so he could smack Zabuza in an attempt to wake him up; she used her kekkei genkai to teleport next to the man and break his wrist. In her fit of rage that continued to linger in her, she didn't notice one of the thugs coming at her with a knife. Before the thug could even get close to try stabbing her, Zabuza had grabbed the man and threw him mercilessly into a wall.

"If any of your goons try to so much as _touch_ Haku again;" Zabuza threatened in a darker tone than usual "I will impale your fat ass on a seven foot spike in the middle of the town you're trying to take over. And I won't ask for a single dime from them for it."

Haku's eyes widened as she looked at her master. She could see that he was fighting the pain that was coursing through his body to keep from looking weak in front of the man that is going to pay them. Any sign of weakness could cause their employer to walk away from them and find someone else to kill the bridge builder.

"Since you're finally done napping;" Gato spat as he pulled his broken wrist from Haku's grasp "I'm paying you to kill that annoying bridge builder, not get your ass handed to you by some snot nosed brats! If you don't fix your mistake in two weeks; I'll see to it that Kirigakure knows where you're hiding."

With that the fat business man left with what goons were able to get up to leave. As soon as the door closed and they were sure the disgusting man was far enough away; Zabuza let his body finally give and fall, only to be caught by Haku. That was one thing he was truly thankful for; he could show pain and weakness in front of her and she wouldn't think less of him, it reminded him of… He shook his head, banishing those thoughts; after all, he didn't need them clouding his mind until he finally killed the bastard Mizukage. Only then could he be completely sure that she was safe.

-Naruto-

The blonde marked his place in the novel he was reading as Tsunami started putting food on the table. He had just finished the prologue and the obvious smacked him in the face when he read the protagonist's name; it was his name. His mom must have read the book and decided to name him after the protagonist.

"Inari" Tsunami called out "dinner's ready."

The boy came down from his room and seemed to glare at the shinobi around the dinner table. All but Sakura picked up on that; Sasuke and Kakashi kept it to themselves, but Naruto, being Naruto, voiced it. Kakashi saw this coming though; he knew that Naruto hated when people starred/glared at him as if he did something wrong unless he knew he did.

"There a problem?" he asked sharply.

He hated when people gave him and his sister that glare; it was as if they did something that angered someone and he often didn't deserve that look, and neither did Anko. When he got that look from other students while in the academy, this was how he approached it; question first, fist second. It was a better approach than just starting a fight for no reason, too bad he learn that after he used his fist first the first time someone shot him that glare. Luckily Sakura, Ino, Kiba, and Hinata were there to stop him after he threw the first punch and knocked the kid to the ground.

"You guys are just wasting your time;" the boy said "you'll only get killed by Gato. Leave and keep your pathetic lives."

Kakashi quickly put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and did his best to keep the blonde calm. The last thing he needed was his student causing issues with the client and causing diplomatic issues between Wave and Konoha. Shendu had been sitting on Kakashi's shoulder hoping to be able to read some of the Toad-Sanin's work, but remembered the female's warning to Kakashi earlier.

"I've dealt with people like this Gato before," the cyclops said in a cool tone "we'll be fine. Thanks for your concern though;" smiling under his mask.

Sakura could see that Naruto was clinching his jaws together to keep from snapping. She just hoped he wouldn't bite into his tongue again; that was a long day in the infirmary back in the academy. It didn't help that he nearly bit his tongue completely off that day either.

"He'll kill you and just make things worse for us;" Inari said "he doesn't care who you are or where you come from. He doesn't care about anything but money; so just leave!"

"That makes him easier to deal with;" Kakashi said "if all he cares about is money then we just need to frighten off his goons and show him that his money can't protect him from us. We know where Gato's staying so we can begin tomorrow night."

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK A GROUP OF FREAKS LIKE YOU CAN DO ANYTHING?" Inari shouted.

The sound of wood breaking echoed through the house they were in; everyone looked and saw Naruto with his fist in the floor, literally. His breathing was heavy as he continued to do everything he could to keep from snapping the kid that used the 'f-word' in half. The anger on Naruto's face was something that was to be taken lightly; it made him look like his darker half when he split himself in two. His whisker marks seemed to be deeper, his eyes held hate, and his teeth were bared together and showing like an Inuzuka would do; most likely something he picked up from his rival because of how often they sparred. Without a word, Naruto swatted Kakashi's hand off his shoulder, went to the coat rack, and grabbed his trench coat.

"Where are you going Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"To train;" as he put the coat on "I've lost my appetite" knowing the next question.

With that he opened the door and nearly slammed it as he left. Tazuna cautiously looked at the hole in the floor and was surprised that it went straight into the ground beneath the wood. Shendu held his composure and only looked at the hole out of mere curiosity than anything else; he was pretty impressed with the fact that it was a clean break straight through.

"How does that boy have such strength?" Tazuna asked.

The room stayed quiet. Kakashi wasn't really sure how Naruto had that much strength, but Shendu did give a few suggestions to him; not that it mattered considering it was a SS-rank secret.

"**The Hatchling has my talismans;"** Shendu said bluntly **"I've already told Naruto this story so I won't feel guilty telling you. Long ago there were nine demons; eight chi-sorcerers and one ten tailed demon that went by the name Jubi. Jubi held far more power than any of the chi-sorcerers, but that story's for another time. The eight chi consist of earth, wind, water, sky, moon, thunder, mountain, and fire. Little more than a century ago, I was once a living being; I was the fire chi sorcerer. My name had been erased from many history books, but I'm sure if you dug around an antique shop that had a book about two hundred years old or so you'd find my name.**

**I drew my powers from the noble animals I consumed when I was only a hatchling myself. As time passed, those powers took a physical form within my body; the talismans. A total of twelve; each one held a unique power. Before Konoha was founded, I had tried to build an empire for myself but was defeated and had my talismans stripped from me; which trapped me in stone form. Almost twelve years ago I was finally destroyed after a shinobi took my talismans from my resting chamber.**

**I spent five years in the spirit realm, mostly just entertaining myself by smacking around those lesser beings that attempt to call themselves demons. When I finally decided to break free of that prison I tracked down my talismans in hopes of regaining my physical form; only to find that they had been infused into Naruto. My hopes of returning to physical form were destroyed two years earlier; so I've been teaching the Hatchling how to control them as I feel he's ready to handle their power."**

Everyone just looked at the plushy like they had never heard him talk before.

"**Oh shit;"** Shendu said as he hung his head.

He had kept quiet and out of sight since they had arrived in the small village. After the lone silence, Tsunami shrieked in horror as she started attacking the stuffed animal with a broom. Said plushy was trying to find anywhere he could to hide; the coat rack got knocked to the ground, a dirty pot was knocked out of the sink and Kakashi got wacked in the head a couple times. After chasing the toy under a cabinet, Kakashi managed to get the broom from her and explained what he could to her; in response to everything she learned, she fainted.

"That went well;" Sasuke snorted.

"**I'll go find the Hatchling;"** Shendu said as he quickly made a break for the open window and hopped out.

-Morning; Haku-

The woman continued her search for herbs as the sun began to make itself known in the thin woods. Zabuza still had nasty swelling that needed to be treated or it could end up causing more harm than good. The reason for that is that the swelling was helping keep his ribs stable, but if the swelling got too bad it could cause a rib to puncture a lung. She made sure to check on her unofficial adoptive father before she left less than an hour ago and everything was alright, but she didn't want to risk staying out too long.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw someone sprawled out on the ground sleeping from the looks of it. The only thing that seemed to argue against that thought were the animals that were in such close proximity to him. She saw the glint of the sun coming off his headband and immediately recognized him from yesterday; it was the boy she thought had spotted her. As she reached for him, she contemplated strangling the boy; it would make Zabuza's job easier since it would mean having one less shinobi to worry about, but she decided against it and moved to shake the boy's shoulder. Before her hand got close enough to touch him, a hand shot up and grabbed her wrist. Out of reflex, she retaliated by grabbing the hand and flipping the owner onto the ground with her knee on his back.

"OWW OWW OWW" Naruto said in pain as he was forced into complete awareness.

Haku realized what had just happened and immediately let go of the boy's arm and lifted herself off him.

"I'm sorry;" she said as she helped the boy up "I just reacted. Please forgive me."

Naruto rubbed his shoulder as he let his eyes adjust to the light. When they finally adjusted he saw the person that had put him on the ground. She had long black hair that went pass her shoulders, soft brown eyes, a soft feminine face with a cute noise, she had a black ribbon-like choker necklace on, and was wearing a pink sleeveless kimono that had what he could only guess was a clan symbol on it.

"It's ok lady;" with a shrug "with everything that's going on here you can't be too careful. What are you doing way out here?"

"Someone precious to me was injured yesterday while he was working;" she replied as she looked around "I'm out here to collect herbs to help speed his recovery."

Anger could be seen in Naruto's eyes when she said that; it was like saying that had hit a nerve in him. This kid was strange, he seemed so concerned with someone else's problems; if he knew that it was Zabuza she was referring to maybe he would be trying to stop her from collecting herbs. She couldn't risk that; she'd have to stay as secretive as possible without making it obvious.

"Was Gato responsible?" in a dark tone.

"In a way, yes;" as she kneeled down and got a closer look at the herbs next to a tree "he was working for Gato and was hurt."

"Why's he working for him?" Naruto demanded to know as he balled his fist up.

"Because," she said as she pulled a few herbs from the ground "he has a dream he wishes to see come turn. I do not agree with him working with Gato, but I too wish to see his dream come true. He's precious to me and I will stand by him and assist him however I can."

Naruto's fist unballed as he understood; he knew Anko had a dream herself, even though she never told him what it was he wanted to help her however he could. She always told him the same thing; 'Don't worry about it; it's not something I want you to get mixed up in'. It pained him to know his sister figure was keeping her dream a secret to keep him from getting mixed up in it.

"I understand;" in a saddened tone "what herbs do you need?"

Haku only froze in surprise; she had just told this boy that she was working with the man that he was here to stop and he was still willing to help her.

"Why are you willing to help someone that's working with Gato?" she asked as she put the herbs in the basket she brought.

"He's doing it for a good reason I guess;" as he kneeled down and looked at the plants in the basket "tell him if he sees me and my friends coming, to stay out of our way."

"Thank you for the warning;" with a smile "it's this one I'm looking for" showing the boy the herbs she had picked already "my name is Haku by the way."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto;" with a grin "I know it's rude to ask a lady her age, but how old are you?"

Haku decided to mess with the poor boy and started giggling. _'This is going to be fun'_ she thought.

"What's funny?"

"That's the second time you called me a lady;" Haku said and saw Naruto didn't react "I'm a boy."

"No you're not;" he said bluntly "I know how to tell a girl from a boy. Your hair seems to be well taken care of; which is something that only girls normally do."

"I like to take care of myself" she replied with another smile.

"Your nails are painted;" as he pulled up a handful of herbs "and I'd be able to see if you have an Adam's apple because of your choker; which you don't. And, uh," starting to turn red as he put the herbs in the basket "just because you're wearing a slightly baggy kimono doesn't mean you can hide everything."

Haku looked down at her chest and saw that the boy was right; even with her kimono being baggy, it didn't completely hide the fact that she's a girl. This left the door wide open for another question; one that might cause him to run in terror.

"Were you starring at my breasts?" in a serious tone.

The moment she started asking that question Naruto knew he had messed up; big time. Anko had pound the daylights out of him and Jiraiya when she discovered the perverted sannin was teaching Naruto about a woman's anatomy. Just the thought of what happened that day made him cringe; he didn't want to know what this woman was going to do to him.

"NO!" he quickly answered "I wasn't! I swear! My uncle's taught me a little about women's bodies and I have a friend back home that wears a baggy jacket to try to hide her figure too" as he backed away from her.

"Relax Naruto;" with a giggle "I was only messing with you. And I'm fifteen. That should be enough herbs" as she got up and grabbed her basket "I hope to see you again Naruto;" as she walked away "under better circumstances" she mumbled to herself.

"See ya;" Naruto said with a sigh of relief.

He heard a yawn and looked to where he was sleeping earlier and saw Shendu stretching his arms while he lay on the ground. This caused him to sweatdrop; '_just how could a soul that's in a plushy sleep for so long?'_ he thought.

"**What'd I miss?"** the dragon asked as he started to sit up.

"Just met a girl named Haku; nothing big" as he picked up the plushy.

"**She couldn't have looked good since I didn't wake up;"** with an indifferent tone.

Naruto knew of the dragon's self proclaimed 'sixth sense'; it wasn't any different than Jiraiya's. It was why the perverts always seemed to be wide awake when they went to the waterfall.

"I thought she looked pretty;" as he walked towards Tazuna's house.

"**Eyes on the prize Hatchling;"** Shendu reminded him **"you have a mission tonight and you can't be daydreaming about females during it."**

"I don't like her like that Shendu;" he grumbled "perverted dragon."

-That night-

Kakashi was in position and waited for his students to tell him they were. His eye looked lazily at the two thugs that were hired to be guards; one had a katana and the other had a large hammer. Any civilian would take one look and be fearful, but he wasn't a civilian and had fought against both types of weapons before.

"_We're in position Kakashi-sensei'_ he heard Sakura say over the radio.

"Alright; on my mark," as he tossed a pebble to get the guards attention "now!"

He grabbed the hammer from its owner and wacked the staff against the owners head as he kicked the other guard in the chest and knocked him to the ground. Before either could recover, he was hitting them again with the handle of the hammer and knocked the hammer's owner completely out.

"Give me your radio;" Kakashi said to the thug that was still conscious as he held the hammer over his head threatening to drop it.

The man quickly took it from his neck and handed the device over.

"_We're good here;"_ Sakura said finally.

"Good; be ready to run," as he took off his radio and put the thug's on "hello… is any one there? I want to speak to Gato; right now would be healthy for two of his guards."

Kakashi waited for a few seconds as he listened to scrabbling and doors flying open over the radio. He noticed a camera on the corner of the house; it was tempting to destroy it with a kunai, but he decided against it.

"_Just who the fuck is this and how'd you get one of our radios?"_ he heard a voice that matched the description Gato's.

"Rotate the camera on the southeast side of your mansion and you should be able to see me. My name's Hatake Kakashi, I just wanted to let you know that we mean business. Had I not called out over the radio, we could've infiltrated your over priced home and done any number of things. Your security seems to be pretty relaxed for someone stealing from a village; I would've assumed you'd have more of these thugs or at least a couple shinobi on your payroll."

"_I do have one on my payroll; the weakling is too damn busy licking his wounds to be here. Don't worry though, you'll see him again."_

"Thank you for the heads up;" as he pulled the earpiece out of his ear "and thank you for confirming what my students suspected already."

He heard shouting over the radio as he told his students to start running.


End file.
